Offering a variety of performances, activities and food, Diamond Bar High School’s Interact and UNICEF clubs worked together to present “The Secret Garden” charity gala on Feb. 28 to raise funds for wilderness preservation.

Held at the Rowland Heights Community Center, the gala raised $1500 for the Worldwide Wildlife Fund, a nongovernmental organization focused on wilderness preservation.

“We chose the World Wildlife Fund because we believed that all the environmental issues going on around the world such as the fires in Australia and climate change need to change,” said senior Katherine Chang, Interact president and UNICEF vice president, via Instagram.

The event included  performances by DBHS biology teacher Eric Sorensen singing  “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and senior Frank Li, who led a jazz band at the event. Other entertainment was provided by the Chriscendos Quartet, which is led by senior Christopher Lin, and an orchestra quartet put together by seniors Emily Yang and Sean Chang with juniors Karen Hsu and Clare Choi.

Attendees were also offered activities such as a photo booth and a calligraphy station. The gala provided a Japanese-style dinner in bento boxes, and cookies, popcorn and chocolates were available at the activity booth.

While both clubs collaborated to organize the event, there were also plans to involve other clubs in the gala.

“The decision to collaborate between UNICEF and Interact was because both of us are pretty noteworthy volunteer clubs on campus,” Interact event coordinator junior James Wu said via Instagram. “Originally, there were going to be other sizable clubs too like Key Club, but they dropped out due to delegating issues.”

While the gala was still a success and raised enough money for donations, club officers came across a few problems while organizing the event.

“We had a lot of communication issues,” Chang said. “A lot of the work was pushed onto the e-board members, which was kinda stressful, but in the end, everything worked out pretty well.”

The clubs have plans to host future galas. 

“While I consider this year’s gala to be a great success, if we as a coalition of clubs do decide to host it once again next year, then I would consider managing and organizing the events and aspects in a more time-efficient manner,” Wu said.