Imagine how hard it would be to lose your child at only 16 days old.
Any parent would be heartbroken.
That is how Patricia and Robert Vince felt when their son Zachary died in 2008.
Zachary was born June 13, 2008 with a congenital heart defect, according to the website Zachary’s Mission.
He died 16 days later, said Darla Bryant, Franklin Regional Student Council sponsor.
But the amazing thing about this unfortunate story is that the Vinces were able to change this tragedy into something positive.
The Vinces started an organization called Zachary’s Mission, where they distribute what they call Zack Packs.
“The Zack Pack is a bag full of toiletries and quick food items to help parents who have medically fragile children in the hospital,” said Bryant.
The hospitals to which the organization Zachary’s Mission reaches out are Children’s Home and Lemieux Family Center, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Children’s Institute of Squirrel Hill, and West Penn Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, according to the website.
This year, Franklin Regional, under the high school student council, teamed up with Zachary’s Mission to challenge students to bring in supplies for the Zack Packs.
“I emailed all of the [high school] club officers and put out an announcement asking if they were interested in coming to a meeting about it,” said Bryant.
Twenty-two clubs ended up participating, including National Honor Society, Key Club, Kids Helping Kids, Caring Team, Pay It Forward, Rotary Interact, and more, according to Bryant.
Some of the items brought in were shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, Chapstick, snacks, brushes, tissues, mouthwash, floss, hand sanitizer, and body wash, according to Bryant.
The FR Zack Pack initiative was a district-wide event.
“We asked the high school clubs, and the elementary school and middle school also helped,” said senior Emily Bondi, president of Student Council.
The Zack Pack initiative is not an ordinary fundraiser at Franklin Regional.
“Every year, we have donations from the Homecoming dance go to three local charities and we didn’t donate to them this year. We thought it would be nice to do a service project district-wide instead of just at the high school,” said Bryant.
Bondi agreed with Bryant on this.
“I’ve always been big into giving back in a positive way, so as soon as Mrs. Bryant said we were going to do this fundraiser I jumped at the opportunity. It’s a good thing to be a part of,” said Bondi.
The clubs who participated seemed to also like this fundraiser.
“I really like the idea of a Zack Pack and helping some of the families whose kids are in the hospital and can’t get home every night to take care of themselves,” said junior Corinne Baker, president of Rotary Interact, one of the twenty-two clubs that contributed to the fundraiser.
Rotary Interact is one of the many service-based clubs at our school.
“We do various service activities and there is also a [foreign] exchange program,” said Baker.
Rotary Interact was assigned the job of bringing in cheese crackers and fruit cups for the Zack Packs.
“A lot of Rotary kids genuinely want to help and were more than happy to bring stuff in. Basically, if I ask them to do something, they do it. They’re fantastic,” said Baker.
The Zack Packs ended up being a successful fundraiser at Franklin Regional, with 150 packs being filled.
Note: this article was originally published in Franklin Regional High School's newspaper The Panther.
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