This year, Charter’s National Honor Society (NHS) took a different approach to their annual Thanksgiving food drive. The club partnered up with more than 20 PPCHS clubs to host a school-wide canned goods collection.
The partnership essentially allowed more students across campus to participate and also helped gain more donations. “NHS tries to involve the community as much as we can, so partnering with all the clubs was a great way for all of us to come together for a good cause, as well as give members as much opportunity to participate,” says senior and NHS Recording Secretary, Ava Mendez.
This year’s donations will be delivered to the Carl Schechter Southwest Focal Point Community Center. The drive ran for two weeks, from Oct. 21 – Nov. 1. A wide variety of items were listed on the donation list, including canned vegetables, soups, gravy, pasta, and more.
Although the drive ran smoothly overall, the club did run into a few challenges. Mendez explains that some people forgot to write their names and clubs on the donations, making it difficult to track down who donated and where their hours would be going. Despite this small setback, the NHS organizers still consider the drive to have been very successful.
Now that the drive has officially ended, the NHS board must count and sort through all the donations. “I’m excited to see how many donations we received,” says junior and NHS Volunteer Hour Coordinator, Kaitlyn Oramas. From the success of the drive, NHS is already looking forward to more opportunities to give back to the community. “I do believe the NHS will have many more drives, both individually and collectively to support many different organizations and help out the community as much as possible,” Mendez explains.
All of the NHS board members express hope that the donations would reach as many families as possible, making their Thanksgiving a bit brighter: “We hope our drive will help families in Pembroke Pines who can’t afford a Thanksgiving meal this holiday season,” says senior and NHS President Hannah Flores.
