For Enloe’s fifteenth annual Charity Ball, Student Council will be partnering with local organization Southeast Raleigh Promise (SERP) to not only combat, but also educate people about generational poverty and gentrification in the Raleigh area. Each year for Enloe Charity Ball (ECB), Student Council sifts through a countless number of applications sent in by local nonprofits. Each year, the task gets more and more daunting, simply because there are so many organizations around Enloe that have such worthy causes, and would put out so much good into the community. 

Sydney Marks, senior,  has served on Student Council for all fours years she has been at Enloe; and this year, she is VP of Service. Sydney’s job is to serve as a liaison between Enloe and the organizations picked to benefit from ECB. 

 Sydney says, “My goal is to help students understand what we are trying to improve in our community, and to help get them involved.”

Student Council chose SERP as their beneficiary because they believe that the organization will impact Enloe students directly. Many students are brought up in environments with circumstances outside of their control, and this can result in them having to live in poverty or areas of Raleigh that are neglected. SERP’s goal is to provide families living with those circumstances a safe place, as well as an equal opportunity to learn and use tools that are taken for granted by far too many. 

To start, SERP plans to build homes for families that are going to be attending the new Southeast Raleigh Elementary School, and make sure that it’s surrounding area is not dominated by big businesses. SERP also functions like a community center, and is partnered with the YMCA. The center has a library, classrooms, computers available for use, a tutoring center for students, and a food pantry for those who need it. The lives of some families living in Southeast Raleigh are dependent on the organization’s growth. Everyone should be given an equal opportunity to learn and prosper, and SERP’s expansion provided by ECB is going to start a wave of progression in Enloe students. 

 “It takes a village, and I think ECB is going to be providing the village for Southeast Raleigh”, Sydney said. 

When asked about the goal for ECB this year, Sydney said, “We are trying to move away from the monetary aspect this year. It is not necessarily about the money– it is about the impact we make.” Although Enloe is trying to raise $200,000 dollars for SERP, the goal is to create a safe, functional space for people living in Southeast Raleigh, to inspire, and to help new generations hit the ground running so they can make this world a better place. 

Make sure to purchase a ticket for Enloe Charity Ball, which will be held at Marbles Kids Museum on December 7th.