The schools are involved in a variety of donation and fundraising drives.
Officials with the Lenape Regional High School District say students, faculty, administration, staff, parents and community members have helped the district continue its tradition of supporting local communities and those less fortunate over the holiday season.
According to LRHSD officials, students and staff at all four district high schools engage in community service throughout the year, but they ramp up efforts throughout November and December to embrace the true spirit of the holidays and help spread that spirit to others.
“We are proud of our students’ commitment to giving back and their desire to be good citizens,” LRHSD Superintendent of Schools Carol Birnbohm said. “One of the district’s objectives is that our students will be ‘involved in voluntary community service throughout their lives, and we believe our students’ outreach around the holidays certainly helps us meet this objective. Most importantly, however, it speaks to their innate sense of compassion and charity.”
LRHSD recently finished its eighth year of participating in the Give to Goodwill Competition, which resulted in 76,204 pounds of clothing collected throughout the district for donation.
At the school level, however, students and staff have taken the initiative to organize additional campaigns to give back.
Prior to Thanksgiving, Shawnee High School’s Student Council coordinated a canned food drive. Students brought in canned or dried food to their health or physical education teachers, which the Student Council then donated to local food banks for their food pantries.
Students at Seneca High School donated a complete Thanksgiving meal to 35 Seneca families. Each family received a turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cornbread, green beans, gravy and cranberry sauce. Murphy’s, Shop Rite of Medford, the Woman’s Club of Medford and Seneca staff all generously donated turkeys. Wegmans also donated a $75 gift card.
At Cherokee High School, the NJROTC Booster Club has also collected canned and dried foods that will be donated to the Wiley Church Food Drive.
Several of the district’s clubs and organizations have organized drives to focus on the specific needs of children, members of the military, the homeless and senior citizens.
Shawnee High School’s Yellow Ribbon Club and the boys soccer team worked to “Stuff a Truck with Toys” for two weeks after Thanksgiving. Students, faculty, staff and community members contributed toys, which supported the efforts of Toys for Tots in Burlington County.
Many Shawnee staff organized their students to write holiday greeting cards to members of the military. Students sent gracious “thank-you’s” and messages of appreciation all over the world to locations such as South Korea, Cuba, Hawaii, Bahrain, Turkey, Germany, Afghanistan and more. In fact, more than 215 cards will soon reach service members stationed both stateside and abroad. Recipients include two New Jersey National Guard Units and five Shawnee alumni.
Cherokee High School’s NJROTC continues to collect toy donations for Toys for Tots until Dec. 20, and has placed drop-off boxes at the North Main Office and the Counseling Center in South.
Cherokee’s Students’ Movement Against Cancer (SMAC), which partners with the Committee to Benefit the Children at St. Christopher’s Hospital, is collecting toys specifically for the patients at the hospital.
The school’s French and Spanish clubs are “adopting” a Cherokee Family for the holidays. They are collecting food, cleaning items, clothing and presents for the family from Dec. 13 to Dec. 21.
Cherokee’s Renaissance has directed efforts toward helping seniors. Students have baked cookies at home, packaged them together at school and worked with representatives from Evesham Township to distribute them to seniors throughout the township.
Cherokee’s African-American Cultural Club and Dance & Step Club are participating in “Project Warm Heart”. Students are collecting toiletries and personal care products through Dec. 20, which they will donate to a homeless shelter in Philadelphia.
Cherokee High School’s Yellow Ribbon Club and NJROTC are collecting prepackaged cookies that they will soon mail to members of the military to help give them a taste of home for the holidays.
Lenape High School’s Foundations of Leadership class is collecting gifts through Dec. 13 for the First Presbyterian Church’s Giving Tree/Operation Santa. On Dec. 17 the class will “host” families at the church’s food pantry that day, serve food and socialize with the children in attendance. Then Santa will come to deliver the gifts.
Lenape High School’s Gay/Straight Alliance also wanted to do something to help homeless LGBTQ youth this holiday season after reading some studies showing that 40 percent of all homeless youth identify as LGBTQ.
The students provided collection boxes around the school and asked everyone to consider donating personal care items, such as shampoo, soap, toothpaste, deodorant and more.
They will send the donations to Trinity House in New York City, a shelter for homeless LGBTQ youth.
