Student Council partners with Toys for Tots
By Viktor Wang, Staff Reporter
During homeroom of Dec. 11, student council members bustled around in Room 162, bagging up boxes of UNO cards, Legos and piles of other collectibles, and board games. These toys will be sent to Toys for Tots, an organization that then distributes these toys to struggling children.
Toys for Tots is a nonprofit run by the Marine Corps that gives out donated toys from drop off locations across the US. Every year, student council members volunteer to collect games and toys to give out to disadvantaged children through Toys for Tots. Senior and Student Council president Jeffrey Wang helped organize the drive this year.
“It’s (Toys for Tots) a nationwide organization that tries to help families who are currently going through hard times and help them get toys for kids,” Wang said. “And so for those who are more fortunate, like a lot of people at this school, we can donate toys to these families who might need some support during the holiday season.”
This year, the Student Council Toys for Tots drive started in the middle of November and ended on Dec. 11, when members collected the toys. According to Wang, collecting toys as gifts for children is one way that the student council is giving back to the community this holiday season.
“For us, we just run a drive at Conestoga, and I think that it’s a great opportunity for students at Conestoga to give back to the community,” Wang said.
After Student Council members collect all the toys, the donations are put in bags and sent to the Philadelphia Toys for Tots center. Student Council members hope to make a positive impact on the community through the drive.
“It (Toys for Tots drive) definitely (has) a positive impact because Christmas is an American tradition and we should try to have people take part in it. It’s a great time of the year and we want to make sure all kids are able to celebrate Christmas even if their families have fallen on a hard time,” Wang said.
Allied Health students volunteer for annual Holiday Hope Chest
By Paige Vachris, Staff Reporter
On Saturday, Dec. 13, students participating in Allied Health through Paoli Memorial Hospital volunteered to distribute toys to local families in need at the 22nd Annual Holiday Hope Chest event. The students gathered at the Technical College High School (TCHS) Pickering Campus to assist with the holiday shopping experience.
Holiday Hope Chest is a nonprofit campaign organized by Give Back Lehigh Valley that provides families in need with an interactive holiday shopping experience featuring new and gently used toys. Local community agencies distribute vouchers, which families can use to select toys and other items for their children. In the days leading up to the event, Allied Health Paoli students raised money and took a field trip on Dec. 8 to Target to buy toys to donate for the event. During Holiday Hope Chest, many Conestoga Allied Health Students helped shoppers and wrapped gifts.
”I really liked that we got to give gifts to people who need them,” said senior and participant in the Paoli Allied Health program Hannah Han. Han helped families pick out items at the Holiday Hope Chest event. “A lot of these gifts are very, very high quality and would be super fun for any kid to play with, so for them to be able to have that opportunity is amazing.”
According to Give Back Lehigh Valley, Holiday Hope Chest provided 450 shoeboxes full of items for children in need this year. This result was the program’s best in ten years.
”I think it’s really special that everyone in the TCHS community came to help out. There was a lot of volunteers and it all went so smoothly,” Han said.
Chris Song is a senior and participates in the Allied Health program through Paoli Memorial Hospital who helped Holiday Hope Chest by creating gift bundles for families who could not attend the event. Song feels that it would be helpful to expand the opportunity.
”There’s definitely some student organization at ’Stoga that could do something like this,” Song said. “I think being able to incorporate something like this at ’Stoga could be very helpful.”
Viktor Wang can be reached at [email protected].
Paige Vachris can be reached at [email protected].
