Members of the Manchester High School Senior Beta Club work to serve their chili lunch on the square on Oct. 26, highlighting Beta Founders Day and Domestic Violence Awareness. (Photo by Patricia Beech)

Students honor Beta Founders Day, spotlight Domestic Violence Awareness Day – 

By Patricia Beech – 

The weather might have been inclement, but it did little to dampen the spirits of the Manchester High School Senior Beta Club members who gathered on Courthouse Square on Friday, Oct. 26 to both honor Beta Founders Day and spotlight Domestic Violence Awareness Day.
To show their support for the victims and survivors of domestic violence, nearly 50 MHS Senior Beta members, grades 9 -12, sold chili, sweets, and hot chocolate to visitors who stopped by their Beta booth on the corner of Main and Cross Streets in West Union.
“It’s important we provide support,” said Beta member, MHS junior Taylor Morrison. “The subject doesn’t always have a lot of attention brought to it, so I think being high school students and National Beta members, it’s important that we do this to support both our club and domestic violence survivors.”
MHS Beta advisor and Language Arts teacher for 10th and 12th grades,Whitney Lovejoy, said the Beta students spent a school week doing Domestic Violence Awareness activities.
“We coordinated a toiletry drive for the Women’s Crisis Center in Maysville, and all the proceeds from today’s bake sale and chili dinner will also go to the center,” she said. “Additionally, to bring awareness about the issue to our community, the kids have been doing daily school announcements to share domestic violence facts for the whole building to hear.”
MHS Senior Beta Club member Kyle Reaves said he thinks it’s important to let victims and survivors of domestic violence know they’re not alone.
“It’s important to show that you care,” Reaves says. “This is a very important cause and we want people who are going through it to know that people care. That’s why we’re here – I see that as my job as a Beta member, to show people that I care what happens to them.”
Reaves also said participating in awareness activities sends a strong message to younger students.
“They really look up to us,” he says. “When they see us out here doing volunteer work in the community, it encourages them to aspire to do it themselves when they get older.”

The corner of Main and Cross Streets was the site of the MHS Senior Beta Club’s chili lunch on Friday, Oct. 26. (Photo by Patricia Beech)

According to MHS Beta advisor and Language Arts teacher Michelle Morand, volunteerism is central to the academic club’s core values.
“Beta Club is centered around service for the community,” she says. “Our students do a service project every month because we want them to be involved so they understand what’s happening in their community and are given a chance to give back themselves.”
Lovejoy credits Michael Morrison, Victim Advocate with the Adams County Prosecutor’s office, for bringing the idea to the MHS Beta Club.
Morrison told the Defender she believes young people can play a crictical role in raising awareness.
“This is an amazing way for them to give back to the community,” she said. “By doing this they’re letting victims and survivors of domestic violence know we believe them and that we support them.”
The Beta event drew broad support from both local residents and the business community, according to Morrison.
“Everyone has been very involved,” she said. “A lot of people have worked together for this cause, and the wonderful thing about this event is that local community businesses have donated to make this possible.”
Among the many donations were: Chili from Frisch’s; hot chocolate from Prather’s IGA; a $75 gift card from Walmart for needed supplies; a canopy for the Chili and Bake Sale from Tadlock’s Trailer Sales, purple balloons from the West Union Flower Shop, purple decorations from the staff at the Adams County Prosecutor’s Office, and Eric White who provided the location for the event.