Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate the love and appreciation expressed towards others, and what better way to do this than gifting flowers to loved ones. Yet, for those in the greater Los Angeles area, this Valentine’s Day looks a lot different. To commemorate this bittersweet holiday, Cape Coral High School will be selling Valentine’s Day carnations to benefit those impacted by the LA fires. 

The Class of 2026 is sponsoring the fundraiser and will be selling carnations in the cafeteria during lunch starting on February 3rd and distributed on Valentine’s Day, February 14th. The flowers will be sold as follows: one for $2.00, three for $6.00, and six for $10.00. The money made from these donations will go to the California Wildfires.

With nearly 300 flowers waiting to be sold, the Student Government Association (SGA) expects the sales of the carnations to follow the trend of last year, greatly surpassing years prior.

Cayden Linton, junior SGA member, expressed his awe towards the benefits caused, stating, “Through SGA, we do a lot of fundraising service projects and we’ve raised a lot of money for the community for a lot of different things. So, this is just another fundraiser that’s going past our community to help others, and with this one expecting to raise about four hundred dollars, it’s just amazing.”

This isn’t the first time that the junior class has done a project like this. Past projects have supported school processes including graduation fees, graduation rehearsal, GradBash, and more, but students decided to support an alternative cause this year.

“Normally we would use the funds we earn for prom, but then the [California Wild]fires happened and it was all over the news. So, the kids just talked about how we would like to do something for them,” said fundraiser and class sponsor Sandra Johnson.

Student contribution is essential for this fundraiser to be a success, as SGA works to get the student body involved in this cause.

“The [California] Wildfires are a problem for everybody, and even the little money that we can give them is a huge help in the long run. And after all the money that we’ve gotten from Hurricane Ian, it’s only right to give back to all those who gave and supported us,” said Linton

Valentine’s Day is a day to express love and commitment towards friends and family, and this fundraiser doing just that for those in the greater LA area. With this fundraiser and the intent behind it, the Class of 2026 is taking the spirit of Valentine’s Day to a new level.

Junior SGA officer Aden Hoentsch said,  “As a human, I think it’s really important that we show people that it’s not just about giving to your own community, but other communities as well. It’s like a little present for Valentine’s Day.”