A special fund-raising event took place during Friday night’s varsity football game against the Southfield Blue Jays.
Following the first quarter, cheerleaders from Oxford High School passed out envelopes to Wildcat supporters in the stands as part of Goodwill’s ‘Dollars for Jobs? monthlong campaign. Approximately $270 was raised at the game.
The goal of ‘Dollar for Jobs? campaign is to encourage young people from Metro Detroit in combating the regions’s unemployment crisis.
‘I think it’s a wonderful program,? Oxford High School Athletic Director Mike Watson said. ‘Obviously unemployment in Michigan is a problem, and anything we can do in a changing economy to offer more people jobs skills or employability skills…as an educational institution, it’s really incumbent upon us to try and do that.?
‘We are always saying in Oxford Schools that we are trying to prepare our students for a global economy that is changing all the time, and that is what has really happened to a lot of people in southeastern Michigan,? Watson said.
‘The more that we can do to raise awareness for that right here in our own hometown for people who need to develop new job skills for the new economy, we should do whatever we can to assist in that,? he added.
Fans were asked to donate money to support Goodwill’s unemployment education, training and job placement programs, which in turn helps people of Metro Detroit become employment ready.
‘I believe we were the first school to do this at a football game,? Watson said.
This was the second time OHS has participated in the ‘Dollar for Jobs? campaign.
Earlier this spring the school raised just under $300 when the envelopes were passed out at a Captain’s Club event.