UPDATE: As of 3:00, PN (with PC’s donation of $5,285 dollars) has raised over $20,000 for The March of Dimes. A few members of Central’s Student Council stopped by around 2pm to help out. “I like working with PN Senate,” said PC’s Vice President John Hart, “It makes things so much smoother, and it just works better to raise money together.”

UPDATE: As of 12:45, PN (with Central’s contribution of ~$5,000) has raised over $15,000. “Regardless of the weather, students are continuing to bring in more money,” said Senate advisor Kellie Pittman. “So Breadlifters, keep on keeping on!”

While most of the time students can barely get to class before the 7:45 bell, this morning over three hundred students were waiting excitedly at 7:30 for the events of the day to kick off. It may seem extraordinary to see teenagers energized early on a Saturday morning, but today is no ordinary day for students at Portage Public Schools: It’s Breadlift.“We’ve been doing Breadlift since this school was built in 1965,” said Lauren Michelli, Northern’s student body president, “It’s a huge Huskie tradition.” Every year Breadlift has a theme, and this year it is #Liftapalooza.

Breadlift is a fundraiser that involves students driving all around town and walking door to door seeking donations for the March of Dimes. “Portage Northern and Portage Central students go out and ask for monetary donations in exchange for bread,” said Michelli.

March of Dimes is an organization that assists premature babies. They provide vaccinations, treatments, and support to the babies and their families so that the children can grow strong to live healthy and full lives. “It’s a really good organization, and I am really happy that we are able to help them every year,” added Michelli.

The past four years, PNHS has managed to break the world record for raising money for the March of Dimes in a single day, and this year Student Senate is looking to break the record again. “Over the course of 52 years, we have raised over $400,000 for the March of Dimes,” said Michelli, “And this year our goal is to break our record again by raising $25,000.”

Student Senate works for months to ensure that Breadlift runs smoothly, therefore “meeting our goal is really emotional, because we can see how our hard work has paid off,” said Michelli, “It’s worth all the stress and hours of preparation.”

When the thousands of dollars start pouring in, parent volunteers and alumni come and help count donations for hours at a time. While the grand total is not official until about a week after Brealift, the money counters are able to get a pretty good sense of how much money has been made by the end of the day – and if the record has been broken or not.

As for students, most are currently out and about seeking donations on the morning trips. Most will come back around 11:30 to eat lunch, then head out again to raise even more money. For those students currently seeking donations, Senate has a few tips of how to maximize how much you can raise:

1. Stop at every house given to you on your maps
2. Be polite and explain what the money is going towards
3. Keep a positive attitude and have fun!

Sophomore senator and Bread Quarters worker Gracie McGrath said that the most important part of Breadlift is to “#SaveTheBabies.” So PN students, keep on lifting!