Driven to support children in need, the Bay High School Key Club in Bay Village, Ohio, U.S., coordinates a variety of initiatives each year to raise money and awareness to help end the world’s clean-water crisis.

Most recently, the club’s Pizza Bake Off event drew over 700 attendees and raised over US$5,800 for Thirst Project — a Key Club partner that gives young people a chance to address the global water crisis. The event took place during a February 3 basketball doubleheader between Bay High and Westlake High School, attracting a larger-than-usual crowd — in addition to support from the Westlake Key Club, whose president assisted throughout the event.

Local partnerships were a big part of the event’s success. For example, five pizza restaurants — Danny Boys, Gina’s, Pizza By Robert, Dirte Pi and Pizza Hut — donated a variety of pizzas to this year’s Pizza Bake Off. All the attendees served as judges, voting for the best pizza in each of the six categories (best cheese, best sauce, best crust, best pepperoni, best specialty and best overall). The restaurant with the most votes in each category claims an award.

In addition to pizza sales, Bay High Key Club sold raffle tickets for gift baskets that included gift cards, merchandise and other items donated by local businesses. And in collaboration with Crumbl Cookies, the Key Club raised a few more hundred dollars through cookie sales.

The Bay Village community has been involved with Thirst Project for over eight years, and each year Bay High School Key Club raises US$12,000 — enough to fund one freshwater well in the African nation of eSwatini. In addition to the Pizza Bake Off, they host a “walk for water” in May and a variety of smaller fundraisers throughout the year, like Crumbl Cookie and Mitchell’s Steakhouse gift card sales.

Bay High School Key Club is listed as number four in the list of top-fundraising schools at thirstproject.org.