Fairland and Chesapeake high schools came together for a friendly competition for a good cause.

The schools competed to raise donations for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Together, the schools raised a total of more than $15,000.

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes from both schools and the Chesapeake High School Reading Club, led by Susan Miller, joined forces to help those in need.

Kim Day, FCA sponsor at Chesapeake, said about three weeks ago, Tara Sansom, FCA sponsor at Fairland called her up and said the Fairland FCA was going to raise money for hurricane victims. She wanted to allow the schools to compete. The Fairland FCA is led by Tara Sansom and Caroline Lovejoy.

&#8221It got to be a whole school venture,“ Day said.

Day said they took donations during first period and the Reading Club was going to take the winning class out to breakfast. They also received donations from the community.

&#8221We had some good community donations,“ Day said. &#8221Several businesses matched donations.“

One local business donated their location to the students for a day. Southern Detail, a car wash owned by Johnny Benson, is located in Chesapeake.

The owner donated his facility, hot dogs and drinks to the students one Saturday from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. They had full use of the car wash and detail facility. Students raised $1,400 in that short period of time.

&#8221The kids stood in the streets and collected money,“ Day said.

Students also carried buckets around the ballgames, sold candy, had hat day - where they donated $1 to wear a hat - and took donations from teachers from both the middle school and high school.

Along with donations raised from both schools, Day said they also received another special donation from an elementary school student. Kara Bennett, a third grader, donated $500 to the high school clubs.

The Chesapeake School System raised a total of $11,724.80. The Fairland FCA raised a total of $3,802.51. The total raised and donated to the American Red Cross to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina, $15,527.51.

&#8221It was for a good cause,“ Day said. &#8221It made them work harder.“