By Jordan Meadows
Staff Writer
The Enloe Charity Ball is one of the Triangle’s most impactful student-run philanthropic traditions.
Founded in 2004 by Rachel Escobar and paused only once, during the COVID year of 2020, the organization has become a defining feature of Enloe High School’s culture. Each year, the event is planned, executed, and led entirely by students in Enloe’s Student Council, who select a local nonprofit beneficiary, run a months-long fundraising campaign, and culminate their efforts in a county-wide gala where the annual check is revealed.
Over time, those student-driven efforts have raised nearly $1.9 million for nonprofits such as Haven House Services, Southeast Raleigh Promise, the Autism Society of North Carolina, and CASA.
Current Enloe senior Noe Roark, Vice President of the Enloe Student Union, explained, “Last year we surpassed $1.8 million in total, and our goal this year is $200k so we can reach that $2 million mark—which is super exciting.”
This year, on the shared 20th anniversary of both organizations, Enloe Charity Ball selected Note in the Pocket as its 2025 beneficiary. Note in the Pocket provides high-quality, personalized clothing to homeless and impoverished children across Wake and Durham Counties, with many requests coming from schools within Enloe’s own zip code. Demand for its services has grown rapidly—a 70 percent increase in clothing requests over just four years—and the nonprofit now aims to serve 12,000 children and families by 2025.
Funds raised by Enloe students will directly support this expansion, including strengthened school-based clothing delivery, community Pocket Pop Ups, and the organization’s growing work in Durham, which clothed more than 1,200 individuals last year.
Note in the Pocket’s philosophy centers on anonymity, privacy, and personalization—“Clothing with dignity and love,” as its mission states. Children identified as clothing insecure receive carefully prepared packages tailored to their individual needs and preferences, without ever being named. Volunteers sort, size, and quality-check every clothing item, selecting pieces based on details such as favorite colors or characters.
Behind Enloe’s contribution to this mission is an intricate student-led structure that few outside the school ever see. The Student Council—about 65 students strong—runs every aspect of the campaign themselves.
Roark credits this entirely youth-driven model for the organization’s longevity and impact: “I think the thing that’s contributed to the overall success of our organization is the spirit behind it: we have about 65 kids in our student council that do all the work in its entirety. It’s all student-led and student-run. When new students arrive, they realize that the Charity Ball is this immersive experience where you put so much into it for three months.”
Each year, seniors train freshmen, ensuring continuity built on enthusiasm and mentorship. Five student leaders—the student body president and four vice presidents—oversee committees in areas like finance, public relations, and logistics, guiding their peers through months of planning. The work happens alongside AP classes, extracurriculars, and college applications, something Roark noted when comparing ECB to adult-run organizations:
“This is not our jobs. We’re students: we’re doing college applications, still going to school—all that to manage at the same time.”
Fundraising itself becomes a campus-wide tradition, weaving service into student life. Competitions like kickball and chess tournaments, fall retreats, caroling groups, and dozens of small events across the school community both raise money and reinforce the sense that students are building something meaningful together. These activities, some more than eight years old, have become staples students look forward to each year, strengthening participation and community identity.
“My biggest hope is that the organization can continue—and even ramp up—its commitment to volunteering. That’s something so special for an organization to have 70 kids ready to volunteer all the time. For example, with CASA, we actually helped build the furniture that went into the apartments, and we made welcome signs for the apartments," Roark said.
It is this combination of student autonomy and institutional memory that allows the Enloe Charity Ball to have such a lasting impact. Students know that every kickball ticket, every themed event, and every moment spent volunteering connects them to something larger than their school—something that directly uplifts the lives of children and families in their own neighborhoods.
As the organization pushes toward its $200,000 goal for Note in the Pocket and the milestone of $2 million raised overall, it continues to demonstrate how much power young people have to transform their communities.
