During the week of January 29 through February 2, the Alliance Chapter of Future Business Leaders of America actively completed a March of Dimes’ ribbon project.

March of Dimes is a nonprofit organization that helps mothers and babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality through research. They help mothers get healthcare and each chapter donates to organizations and research facilities on a more local scale. March of Dimes also has a partnership with Future Business Leaders of America, which is why all chapters (or schools) in FBLA are required to complete a ribbon project.

Ribbon projects are activities available to each chapter to complete before their state competition. There, each chapter will receive ribbons for each project they successfully complete. The purpose (of ribbon projects) is to help get FBLA members involved in the community and local businesses.

The Alliance Chapter’s ribbon project was planned by Hannah Middleton, a junior and treasurer of the Alliance Chapter of Future Business Leaders of America, and carried out by the whole chapter. Members would walk through the stands during halftime of a varsity boys basketball game to collect spare change and donations.

“It was fun, I learned a lot about March of Dimes and I’m glad we could help,” Middleton stated.

Starting January 29, labeled jars labeled for each grade and for staff were set in the school office. Each day during the daily announcements, a reminder was read about the jars and a new fun fact was stated about March of Dimes. The jar with the most money in it by the end of the week was declared the winner and received bragging rights. The jar with the highest total at the end of the week was the staff jar.

On Friday, February 2, at the basketball games against Scottsbluff, FBLA members walked through the stands and asked for change during halftime of the home basketball games. Also during the night, a jar was set by the cash register for the first FBLA soup dinner. The amount donated during the week was added to that collected during halftime. In total, the Alliance Chapter of FBLA collected $161.49 for the March of Dimes.