The Olentangy Liberty High School DECA chapter has made an impact around the community once again. For six years and counting, the American Heart Association (AHA) has partnered with the Olentangy Liberty DECA chapter to raise funds and awareness towards heart health.

The DECA chapter, which is an organization that prepares leaders and entrepreneurs for careers and education in marketing and other business areas, succeeded in creating a Red Out day honoring the AHA.

Over the past few years, the chapter has raised about $30,000 for the AHA. This year the campaign, led by seniors Kevin Coghlan and Jonathan Finn, was able to raise more than $9,000 toward heart health research, a news release states.

Heart disease is the number one cause of death for Americans, but 80 percent is preventable with heart healthy behaviors. All money raised helped to fund life-saving research about cardiovascular disease and stroke.

The DECA chapter sold 900 Red Out shirts to students, staff, and members around the community to wear to the Red Out football game Sept. 30 against Westerville Central. They focused mainly on the high school and the feeder middle schools, Liberty and Hyatts. They also promoted it via the Olentangy Local School District website and Twitter.

“It was an amazing sight to see red throughout the stadium,” said Coghlan. “It’s a great feeling to see this much support for the cause.”

The Red Out was also the theme for Friday’s spirit day since for homecoming week. “There was red everywhere,” Finn said. “Every time I stepped foot in the hall, I immediately saw crowds of red.”

To learn more about the American Heart Association, visit http://www.heart.org/.