INDIANAPOLIS, IN – High schools interested in helping schools affected by the recent disasters in Louisiana,Mississippi and Texas can adopt a school with a similar nickname through the Mascot Adoption Program (MAP) initiated by the National Federationof State High School Associations (NFHS).
Schools across the United States are encouraged to initiate fund-raising efforts, or perhaps use donations from ticket proceeds, to provide funds for schools damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita.
“As the national organization for high school sports, we have received calls from schools across America wanting to help those affected by these disasters,” said Robert F. Kanaby, NFHS executive director. “There has been a great outpouring of sympathy and concern,
and I expect we will have many schools that will become involved in assisting those schools in the Gulf South that have suffered great losses.”
The MAP program will be orchestrated through the NFHS Web site, www.nfhs.org. A list of the schools affected by these disasters has been posted, along with the nicknames of the schools. A total of 130 schools
(92 in Louisiana and 38 in Mississippi) are included in the initial list. Schools interested in becoming involved with this fund-raising effort can find a school that has a similar nickname and choose to adopt that school by entering all the necessary information on the Web site.
When the sponsoring school completes its fund-raising activities, the school will send its contribution directly to thedisaster-affected school in the Gulf South.
“Once a school selects another school to adopt, we encourage the sponsoring school to publicize, within its student body and community, the names of the school and mascot it has adopted,” Kanaby said. “Schools helping schools, student-athletes and activity participants helping their counterparts – this is a great opportunity to help these schools and individuals that are in desperate need and provide a service leadership opportunity to all.”
For more information on the Mascot Adoption Program, contact Bob Gardner, chief operating officer at the NFHS in Indianapolis.
