High Schoolers to Host Free Car Wash for Darfur Cause

The Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School's Amnesty International group hopes to help out the community on Saturday while also helping the people of Darfur.

The group will be hosting a car wash at the Terrill Exxon gas station on South Avenue in Fanwood to raise money for the Save Darfur Coalition, a group that works to help the people who've suffered from the genocide in the African region.

The car wash was will be free, thanks to donations from local businesses. President Caitlin Hoynes-O'Connor said the high school group reached out to local business owners and asked them to donate money toward their cause. For each car that's washed on Saturday, she said, each of the 11 businesses supporting them will donate a dollar.

"So that'll be $11 per car," Hoynes-O'Connor said.

The high school's Amnesty International chapter took Darfur on as their mission over the summer. Hoynes-O'Connor said she first learned of the issues there as a freshman, but really took an interest in it last year, when she took the high school's elective course, Racism and the Holocaust.

For that class she produced a 13-minute documentary detailing the Sudanese rebel groups' attacks on the Darfur people. She said it wasn't easy getting a good grasp on the issue, since media reports are varied.

"They're not exactly showing people being raped on primetime," she said.

The high school group then decided to start  raising money for the Save Darfur Coalition. The group raised about $800 over the summer by selling candy at the Fanwood summer movie series and by hosting a yard sale. Hoynes-O'Connor said she hopes they're able to raise about $1,000 by the end of this month.

Last night, the group sponsored a special viewing of Hoynes-O'Connor's class presentation at the Fanwood Memorial Library. They also presented a screening of the documentary "The Devil Came on Horseback," which is based on the story of a former marine who became an advocate for Darfur after witnessing the genocide while serving in Sudan as a military observer.

Hoynes-O'Connor said she hoped the group's Darfur cause would help them attract new members at the beginning of the school year. The high school's Amnesty International chapter curently has about 68 members, she said.

This Saturday's car wash will be the group's last Darfur fundraiser for September. They'll then move on to raise money for UNICEF in October.

The car wash is being sponsored by the Double Dipper Cafe, Family Investors, Fanwood Nail, Enchantments, Rice Inn, The Bath Connection, Try-Cob of Fanwood, Exclusive Salon & Spa, Di Francesco Realty Inc., South Street Cafe and Scotchwood Florist.