Business Professionals of America (BPA) will be serving EHS a Chicago staple through their latest fundraiser. The club is bringing Portillos to Southern Illinois as a way to fund their annual garden project and Special Olympics.

According to Spanish teacher and BPA sponsor Ana Harris, the decision to fundraise with Portillos was not made by the Edwardsville chapter.

“There are several chapters up in Chicago and the state BPA decided to do the fundraiser,” Ms. Harris said.

BPA offered three options for students to order. Students could order 1 pound of Italian beef and 4 sandwich rolls for $30, 1 pound of Italian beef with 4 pounds of potato salad and a 2 liter soda for $40 or 4 pounds of mostaccioli for $40.

EHS is the only BPA chapter in southern Illinois according to Ms. Harris, although there are many in the Chicago area. The food will be delivered from two hours away since the fundraiser was created with the Chicago chapters in mind.

The club will use a portion of the money to fund their annual garden project according to BPA president, senior Will Schueler.

“The garden project is a project we have run for two years now in which we grow fresh produce on a small plot of land at Liberty Apple Orchard near the YMCA Meyer Center,” Schueler said.

According to BPA member, senior Samuel Lewis, the garden has been mostly run by himself, junior Braden Starck, junior Dhruv Mathur and senior Dev Mathur.

“Over this past summer we were able to grow over 300 pounds of fruits and vegetables,” Lewis said.

The crops are cared for and harvested by students throughout the year and then delivered to the Oasis Women’s Center, a domestic violence shelter. The fresh produce is appreciated by the shelter because, according to Schueler, the shelter would only have access to old produce that is about to expire.

According to Schueler, the motto of the project is “Replace hunger with hope.”

The rest of the money raised by the fundraiser will be donated to the Special Olympics and help to fund BPA’s trip to state.