Every year the Gay-Straight Alliance puts together a small Valentine’s fundraiser for last minute buyers on Valentine’s Day. On Wednesday, February 14th the West High foyer was filled with students selling Valentine cards, several kinds of flowers and t-shirts.

It’s an annual fundraiser for Valentine’s merchandise which is held and put together by the members of GSA, who is sponsored by teachers Barb Clark and John Ruhlin. All merchandise is provided and made by the members of Partners Club, which is sponsored by teachers Eric Camp, Kaleb Kuehn, Helen Lee and Temperance Tinker.

Morie Berman, a junior, is also the club vice president of the GSA club. This is Berman’s third year of selling Valentine’s merchandise, she says, “we are selling flowers for Valentine’s flower sale that we do every year, so carnations and baby’s breath roses.”

The sales that go on during Valentine’s Day are said to mostly be about the students here at West and less about earning and fundraising money, however, it is a plus. Many students found themselves at lunch buying lots of flowers for their friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc., to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

Rachel Heimke is a sophomore at West who was buying a card for her friend. “I think it is wonderful that they are selling Valentine’s merchandise at school because we all have crazy, busy lives and if we still want to show appreciation to someone, it’s really convenient to be able to buy something here and still give it to them,” said Heimke.

Rebekah Loeffler is one of the many students that volunteered their lunch time to fundraise. Loeffler is a junior and serves as the secretary in GSA. She had the job of selling baby’s breath roses and carnations. “We are just selling them to spread love and to make it easy for people to remind people how much they love them today,” says Loeffler.

Valentine’s Day is such a high-profit day for consumers and it is a perfect opportunity for clubs and activity groups to have a chance to be able to fundraise. Loeffler adds, “Flowers are kind of a traditional gift for people to give to their loved ones on Valentine’s Day, and so we like to share this as a way to let other people share their Valentine traditions.”

When asking most students at West if they personally like Valentine’s Day, all of them replied with not really liking the holiday. Most students enjoy the celebration and providing for others, however, they don’t appreciate the holiday for what it stands for. Berman adds her opinion, “I like seeing other people happy, however, Valentine’s Day isn’t really for me.”

The majority of the fundraising money will go to the profits for the GSA and Partner’s Club so they can continue to put on small little sales for student enjoyment. Clubs such as the GSA and Partner’s Club want to continue spreading joy for students during holiday seasons here at West, and it couldn’t be possible without the teacher sponsors and continuous student buyers.