VHHS donates record amount after fall fund raising

Vestavia Hills High School principal Tyler Burgess said he is always proud of students when they do their very best during the fall philanthropy drive, but this year, he had even more to be proud of.

On Thursday, after a fall semester of raising funds through Homecoming, t-shirt sales, powder-puff football and more, the VHHS SGA presented a $50,100 check to Unless U, an organization that provides continuing education to those with intellectual disabilities. 

Unless U was founded in November 2014 by VHHS graduate Lindy Cleveland, and currently operates out of Shades Mountain Baptist Church.

Cleveland, who graduated in 2010 and went on to study at Samford University, said that the inspiration behind Unless U came when she watched her own brother with a disability struggle to understand why he couldn't go off to college like his siblings.

The program's name comes from a Dr. Seuss quote from The Lorax, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

Cleveland said that when her family was looking for the next step for her brother after he aged out of high school, they found there weren't any local options for those with intellectual disabilities to continue education.

Unless U provides those adults a college-like atmosphere with an ability-sensitive environment. Currently, there are 40 students and seven staff members.

"We're in the process of trying to secure another location," Cleveland said, but that finding the right fit has been difficult with the organization's specific needs. 

"This money gives us more room to get what we need, which is incredible," she said.

When the donation figure was announced, there was an audible gasp from both Cleveland and many in the crowd, as this year's total is double what the school raised last year during its fall fund raising activities.

"I have never been more proud to be a Rebel," Cleveland told the assembly.

Superintendent Sheila Phillips, who pointed out she typically doesn't speak at the annual assembly, said she was too overcome with emotion not to comment.

"I couldn't be more proud," she said, after explaining her history in working with students with disabilities.

SGA president Millie Cadden said that she thinks the outpouring of support came from Unless U's ties to VHHS and the students themselves.

"I think it just hit so close to home," she said. "Their roots are here."

Cleveland said she appreciated the support the students showed, even if they didn't know about her cause before

"How incredible it has been for them to just rally around this cause. These students, especially on SGA, are so incredible, and passionate," she said. 

"I think that millennials in general are a pretty compassionate, caring, giving generation, so it's been really cool to see how these kids have just supported something that they really didn't know much about. They just showed up."

For more information about Unless U, visit unlessu.org.