Raising $40,000 for charity in seven days? That’s the goal of several Hanover High School groups who have joined for an ambitious fundraiser this holiday season.

The National Honor Society, Student Council and Class of 2025 are collaborating on the Seven Days of ‘Students as Santa’ Challenge, which officially kicks off today. Each member of these groups is tasked with getting at least 10 donors to contribute $20. The proceeds will benefit organizations distributing toys to local families, the Visiting Nurses Association, and the Hanover Food Pantry. Donations can be made to a GoFundMe campaign or given to students directly.

On the GoFundMe, donors are requested to select the school “team” they are supporting by choosing the student representative: McKenzie Bottomley for NHS, Caris Mann for Student Council and Catherine Reinhart for Class of 2025. While the event officially started today, the link went live yesterday and raised $1,000 in less than a day!

The fundraiser came together when student leaders realized the three different groups wanted to hold similar toy drives, said Mrs. Coates, who advises NHS along with Mrs. Collins. They believed, she added, that “we could make a bigger – huge, in fact – impact on local South Shore charities if we worked together.”

While the fundraising goal is ambitious, student leaders believe it’s within reach. “It’s a large number, but we did the math and with the number of people in these groups, it seems possible,” said McKenzie Bottomley, vice president of NHS. “It’s very exciting to think we’re going to have such a big impact on the community.”

To donate: https://gofund.me/de5f8f3c