Juniors Nikhitha Muthineni, Sneha Jacobs and Raabia Qureshi teamed up raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society(LLS). Working together, these friends created Team Aasha.

Beginning their planning in November, Muthineni and Jacobs worked to raise as much money as possible to support their cause. The campaign started on February 14 and ended in early April. Over the span of two months, Team Aasha worked to raise about four thousand dollars, Muthineni said.

“It was a seven week campaign and different high schoolers from around the area would create teams and this was our team,” Jacobs said “We just worked to raise funds by working with businesses and working with community members to be able to raise as [much] funds as we can.”

Over the course of their campaign, Team Aasha managed to raise money through donations, raffles, and sponsorships, Muthineni said. Team Aasha is one of many teams created by teens around the Overland Park area to help raise money for the LLS, Muthineni said. The goal of this project is to raise the most money out of all the teams participating.  

“I just thought it was really interesting because it was a topic that was close to our hearts and we thought it would be really cool to make a change at such a young age and get our community involved in it too,” Muthineni said.

Making a change in a community is something that can be achieved many different ways. For these students, it was raising money for the LLS. 

“My friends and I were looking for a way to impact the community. I’m able to like, change the community in some way before we graduate,” Jacobs said.

Impacting the community is no easy task for high school students. Students lack the authority that adults have. In this case, these students found their way to help through fundraising. 

To help with the cause, other students in the area can donate money to the organization, or go out on their own and start a small fundraising campaign like Team Aasha, Jacobs said. 

“If somebody sees an opportunity to donate or volunteer for an LLS organized fundraiser, it would be great for everybody to go out, donate, or just spend some time getting to know about the cause,” Muthineni said.