Interact Club Raises Close to $5K for Charitable Causes

Gorgeous Gowns, a prom dress shop ran by the high school Interact Club and Forked River Rotary Club, raised close to $5,000 and will be donating the funds to various local causes.

“It was fun,” Rotary member Lori Aceto said. “We had a good kick at the end.”

Dresses were sold on weekends for just $20, some of which were typically valued more than $300. The remaining dresses will be donated to Goodwill of Bayville and the American Cancer Society, which runs a dress program for patients from ages six to 60, Aceto said.

The money raised will go to the following charitable causes: 

• $500...Lacey Food Bank Kids project.
• $500...Lacey Food Bank general Account
• $500...Dan Inglis Foundation, a local family in need
• $500...Amahoro Community Development Project in AFRICA – children’s orphanage, providing mattresses and mosquito nets.
• $500...Rotary International "Clean Water Project" helping to provide families in Peru with clean water.
• $250...Relay For Life 
• $250...Multiple handicap program at LTHS
• $250...E.M.S. Club at LTHS towards purchase of a defibrillator.
• $425...Tuition for one student to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Academy Camp this summer.
• $3,000.00 ...Will be donated for Senior Scholarship Awards at LTHS from other fundraisers through out the year.

The Interact Club has one last fundraiser, Dance for a Cure, on Monday, May 14. Local dance schools and teams will be joining together to raise funds for Oceans of Love, a nonprofit that benefits pediatric cancer patients.

The event, which is expected to bring in approximately $8,000, will also feature a Chinese auction and Reality Check, a local teenage band. Admission is $5.