As part of an effort to raise money and awareness for nonprofit organizations, DePaul Prep’s student government has begun to organize “Dollar Dress Down” days. Students can pay a dollar to benefit the selected organization, and receive the opportunity to participate in a full dress-down on a selected day.

Before the holidays, DePaul Prep students had the opportunity to participate in a fundraiser for Danny Did, an organization dedicated to promoting epilepsy awareness and providing grants to fund epileptic seizure detection devices that aim to help increase safety for those with epilepsy.

Students could purchase paper wristbands for a dollar or rubber bracelets for two dollars to support Danny Did’s cause and participate in the full dress down day on December 11th, as well as T-shirts. DePaul Prep students and faculty raised over $1,700 to donate to the Danny Did cause.

Danny Did is a non-profit epilepsy awareness organization named after Danny Stanton, who died of complications related to an epileptic seizure in 2009. The goal of the foundation is to increase seizure and epilepsy awareness in communities, as well as help fund seizure detection devices for those who cannot afford them, since many of these devices are extremely expensive and unsupported by insurance, according to Danny Did President Tom Stanton.

Stanton said the goals of the organization are “twofold: to increase awareness and to teach people what to do in case of a seizure.” Making the general public more aware of what to do in case of a seizure is “almost as important” as first aid principles, Stanton said.

Basic seizure first aid was included in the presentation by Stanton to student government and in presentations given by student government representatives to FRESH classrooms in the days leading up to the dress down day. 

Proper care for someone experiencing a seizure includes clearing the area of dangerous objects, keeping the person’s airways clear, and monitoring the length of the seizure. Most important, however, is to “maintain your composure,” and “remember that the person having a seizure can most likely hear you,” said Stanton. This makes it especially important to create a safe space for a person suffering from a seizure.

This fundraiser was planned in coordination with DePaul Prep’s student government and Stanton. Student body President Carter Chambers said organizing the fundraiser was a “team effort.”

Stanton has a personal connection with DePaul Prep through his sister, Principal Dr. Megan Stanton-Anderson, and said he was reached out to by Director of Student Activities Christopher Petersen, who connected him with DePaul Prep’s student government, which then took over. 

Student government representatives, Petersen, and Stanton worked together to produce “presentations, marketing materials, and awareness” targeted at the DePaul Prep community, said Peterson. This included an educational presentation from Stanton to student government representatives, who then passed on what they had learned to FRESH classrooms over the course of a week.

The fundraiser was not the first example of the partnership between DePaul Prep and Danny Did. Danny Did’s yearly “Hustle & Heart” basketball clinic is supported by Coach Tom Kleinschmidt and members of DePaul Prep’s varsity basketball team. Stanton said this event is one of their “longest running partnerships” with a school community, and that DePaul Prep’s basketball program has been a “great supporter” of the cause.

Chambers said the fundraiser “felt good to benefit both the student body and the Danny Did Foundation through spreading awareness.” Stanton agreed with this sentiment, saying that he felt “a lot of gratitude to connect with a school that is exceptional and looked up to in the community.” 

Students seeking additional ways to get involved with the cause have multiple opportunities for service and education. Danny Did “Student Ambassadors” are high school students from a variety of local schools that “have a heightened level of commitment to service” and “finding ways to engage with Danny Did in their communities,” said Stanton.

The DePaul Prep community can expect two more dollar dress down days in the near future: one in January to benefit the Big Shoulders fund, and the other in the spring to benefit Misericordia, said Petersen.