Wake Up To Awareness Raises More Than $1,000 at First Fundraiser

raised more than $1,000 at its first fundraiser.

The East Meadow based organization hosted its First Annual Wake Up to Awareness Car Wash in partnership with the Youth Advisory Board and the .

Proceeds from the event will go toward building the organization and making it a legitimate non-profit whose goal is to raise drug awareness. 

Renato Manaloto, founder of Wake Up Awareness and co-founders Giovanni Fuentes and Amanda Louisa, said that the event went extremely well.

"Even though planning our first event was definitely stressful and a completely new experience for us, watching it all come together and seeing the overwhelming support from the community as well as our volunteers definitely made all of the work we put into creating the event worth it," Manaloto said.

Fuentes agreed.

“It was an amazing feeling knowing that the event was setup by us and how much everyone was able to help," he said. "It just goes to show that with determination and a strong community, an idea can go a long way. It was definitely something for us to be proud of."

The event included: a car wash for donations, food, activities for children, a DJ, a dunk tank, a memory box and a memory wall in honor of friends and family who have died of substance abuse and informative brochures on drugs.

Louisa said that she and her partners could not have pulled off a wonderful event without the help of the residents of East Meadow.

"We have participated in small events before, but never anything like this," she said. "We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support from our community, especially Commissioner Farber who helped us put this whole thing into action. It turned out to be a great day."