On September 26, 2014, forty-three students went missing from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College of Ayotzinapa, in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. They were protesting against some discriminating actions taken by the Mexican government when they were kidnapped and murdered.

The Hispanic Cultural Awareness Club paired with a service club here at school called, Interact Club, are having a blanket drive to help raise awareness to the injustices happening in Mexico and are trying to inform our Catholic community about how we can help them and others during this winter season.

Many of our students have been struck by such devastating news including Anna Clark, the president of the Hispanic Cultural Awareness Club. She hopes that “by running the blanket drive, we’re not only raising awareness to the forty-three student disappearances in Mexico, but we can also help the poor in Mexico with these blankets during this cold winter season.”

The blanket drive will go through the whole month of November and will end on December 19th. “As blankets can put out fires, we want to put out the ‘fire’ that killed these students, and with the blanket drive we strive to show that our united Cathedral Catholic community will stand up for these students,” said the president of Interact Club, Ana Paula Ramirez.

These two clubs plan on donating the blankets that were donated to small poor communities in Tijuana, other orphanages, and to homeless people on the street, to show support for the families and communities but also remind everyone of these students that were brutally murdered. The mayor of Tijuana granted these clubs a special license to bring all of the blankets and other materials across the border.

Our Cathedral Catholic community is not the only one doing the Blanket Drive. Other schools around San Diego who have also been impacted by the terrible news are planning on collecting blankets. Schools like Mira Mesa High School’s Interact Club, Mission Vista’s Interact Club, and the Wilson Tiger’s Interact Club are also participating. All of the clubs will hold the Blanket Drive until December 19th, and if anyone would like to make a donation, you can drop your blanket off in Assisi room 109.