Caleb Estep – Mnemosyne Yearbook

Homecoming Prince nominee, freshman Atlee Boling, does his part to collect donations for Riley Hospital for Children during the Miracle Minute at halftime of the varsity football game against South Warren. More than $1,000 was collected for the hospital by the entire Homecoming Court.

During halftime of the recent Gibson Southern versus South Warren football game, the attention briefly shifted from the field to the stands. While this may sound unusual, this takes place every year during the Fall Homecoming football game.

All 22 students of the 2024 Gibson Southern Homecoming Court were in the stands, carrying red buckets and collecting donations for Riley Hospital for Children.

Freshmen Jake Tichenor and Camille Weisheit, who were both a part of the Homecoming Court, were two students roaming through the stands with their Riley buckets. 

“People were donating 20 dollar bills and I did not expect that,” Tichenor said.

Both freshmen expressed they were surprised how much the community was willing to give. 

“I got, I’d say, like 50 dollars,” Weisheit said.

Collecting donations for Riley Hospital for Children is not something new to Gibson Southern Student Council. For as long as adviser Ian Gamroth has been leading this group, Student Council has always collected donations for the charity.

“We’ve done Riley’s Hospital as far as I’ve known,” Gamroth said. “And, I see us doing that for the foreseeable future.”

Regardless of how long this collection has been happening, people are always there in the stands, willing to lend a helping hand. Just this past Friday, Student Council raised $1,068 in about one minute.

Little publicity about the Homecoming collection for Riley’s is made, but the stands are always full that evening and people continue to donate each year.

“I feel like people are always willing to help out, you know, when they know what the cause is, and it’s a good cause,” Student Council President Allison Spindler said. “Riley’s Children’s Hospital is probably as good a cause that you can get.”

For many years Gibson Southern has been a Red Wagon School, one aspect of Riley’s Kids Caring and Sharing Foundation.

“To maintain our record and status with Riley, we need one dollar per student enrolled in our school, and usually we double that,” Gamroth said.

Putting on this Miracle Minute takes little preparation, unlike past Student Council efforts of hosting a chili dinner, working a chicken dinner with a local restaurant and selling items to make a substantial donation to Riley.

“It’s actually not a lot of organizational work,” Gamroth said. “It’s just about getting the people to get out together and collect the money during the game. We want the Homecoming Court to do that because it gets them out in the community during the game, and it gets them involved as well.”

Even though this fundraiser is put together by the Student Council and there is not a lot of organizational work involved. It is an easy task, and the result is always worth it.

“It’s a low involvement for us, but a high reward for Riley’s,” said Gamroth.

Looking into the future, the community can expect to see these collections happening for many years to come. 

 “It’s obviously helping people in the hospital, so I don’t see a reason to quit it,” Tichenor said.