Students at Farmingdale High School are asking local residents to answer their call for a cure on Tuesday, Feb. 5 and help them raise funds for children with cystic fibrosis. Between 6 and 9 p.m., students will gather at the high school and make phone calls to residents in the community, asking them to join the battle against cystic fibrosis by making any contribution possible.

Approximately 20 of the 94 students who are involved in the high school Key Club are expected to volunteer their time on Feb. 5 placing phone calls to residents who reside within the school district. This is the second time in three years that the Key Club volunteered to take part in the project. Students are in grades nine through 12 and the time they put into the fundraiser counts as part of their community service hours they have to fulfill as members of the club.

According to Alicia Barowski, faculty advisor of the Key Club, only about 20 students are needed for the project since there are only so many phones which will be accessible to them. She noted that at the beginning of the school year, Key Club members are told that they have to, by the end of the school year, fulfill 50 hours of community service.

"Key Club is a community service organization," Barowski explained. "We meet weekly and we present projects for [the students] to do. We ask them at the beginning of the year to perform 50 hours of community service; 25 hours within our club and 25 hours outside the club." She noted that any projects such as voluntarily shoveling a neighbor's driveway or sidewalk after it snows or helping an elderly resident with their groceries count as out-of-club services. Barowski added that the students who volunteered for this project will be able to count the time they spend as in-club community service hours since they will be at the school.

"A lot of the students are motivated by the fact that they can put this on their college application and hopefully they're motivated by wanting to make the community a better place," she said.

To help advertise the event, Key Club members display fliers throughout the high school and hope that the news will spread through word of mouth.

The mission of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is to find a cure for this devastating disease, the most common fatal genetic disease of the nation's youth. According to the foundation, although they have cured the disease in the lab, it will be years before they actually have the safest, most effective treatment. They also state that every dollar raised brings them that much closer to that goal.

Farmingdale is one of several high schools on Long Island that has participated in the annual event, which last year raised a total of approximately $22,000 for the foundation.