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Palmetto Senior High rising senior Bella Martin raises money for diabetes research by organizing garage sales. The garage sales are family tradition. Both her sister and brother organized similar sales while they were in high school.
The proceeds are sent to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
The community service project is dear to her heart because her brother Jorge was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age five. Her cousin was diagnosed with Type 1 at age 19.
“I collect clothing, objects, video games, books, just a variety of things to sell at these garage sales,” she says.
She’d put together two garage sales and would have done more but couldn’t because of the pandemic. Because of that, she switched gears and started selling clothing on Depop, an online site.
“I cleaned out my closet and took out dresses, pants, blouses,” she says. “I’ve made some sales but not as many as garage sales. Now that people are getting vaccinated, I’m planning to start those garage sales again.”
The garage sales were successful, especially the one she did right before COVID shut things down.
“The one in tenth grade was extremely successful,” she says.
Now that people are getting vaccinated and things are getting back to normal, she’s hoping to do two garage sales her senior year, one in the fall and one in the spring.
In addition to her efforts to raise money, Martin also focuses on advocacy.
“There are a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes about diabetes,” she says.
Especially being at a school where there are other students affected by diabetes, which is an auto-immune disease.
“The exact cause is unknown. It can be genetic,” she says. “There are so many misconceptions. So much information people don’t know about it. There are so many people around you that are affected by this, both Type 1 and Type 2.”
Martin wrote a story for the school newspaper about her experiences as an advocate for those who have diabetes.
Along with the garage sales, Martin raises money in the JDRF One Walk, the annual walk to raise money to find a cure.
Another big project she’s involved with is Pinecrest City Music Project, a student run non-profit. She’s the grant researcher and the incoming chief operations officer.
“I’ve been involved for seven months now,” she says.
While she isn’t a music student in high school, she did participate in orchestra and chorus in elementary school, so she has a strong affinity for music.
“I found the whole program is to instill the value of arts education in a public setting,” she says. “There is a lack of funding for music and the arts and seeing how many have been affected by that, it’s an important cause.”
Martin is the Vice President of Logistics and Execution for Tutoring for Tomorrow, a student run non-profit tutoring service. Her job entails reaching out to teachers, drafting and sending emails and when necessary, dealing with advertising.
Martin is Editor-in-Chief of the Panther, the school newspaper. She oversees both the print version and the online version.
She’s a Peer Health Educator with the Health Information Project. She and other peer educators teach health-related discussions in freshman classes. She’s a member of the National Honor Society, the Social Science Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society.
This summer she plans to attend the FBI Youth Leadership Program in Quantico, VA.
Her preliminary college list includes Dartmouth, Brown, George Washington University and Georgetown. She’d like to study history and minor in women, gender, and sexuality studies.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
