On April 20 Seneca students recognized all who volunteered throughout the year.
To celebrate all of the great philanthropic endeavors that take place throughout the year, Seneca High School’s community service club chose to recognize all of those who volunteered throughout the year with “Seneca Doughnut Day” on April 20. The event is took place in the morning, and the community service club students helped to pass out over 1,200 doughnuts and water to all of the students and the staff before the start of school. As the students got off the bus, they were greeted with tables set up with doughnuts and water to start their day.
Every day, members of Seneca High School volunteer in a variety of ways and are often not recognized. And while the students and staff do these acts of community service for the good of the community and to help each other out, the community service club wanted to pay special recognition to all of the staff and students. Community service club adviser said, “My hope is that Seneca Doughnut Day will encourage all of the staff at Seneca, as well as all of the students to ‘pay it forward’ with acts of kindness and volunteerism and to continue to strengthen our community by building relationships. Seneca is really a special place, and this event, at least in part, recognizes that as well.”
The community service club partnered with two community business — Russo’s Fruit and Vegetable Farm (Tabernacle, NJ) and Lakes Coffee (Medford Lakes, NJ) — to make this event happen. Many students and staff made this daunting task possible by coordinating all the ordering, purchasing, set-up, and promotion.
Two Seneca staff members, Marianne Devine and Sharron Bytheway, were instrumental in the organization and support of the idea. Additionally, Media Specialist Amy Rominecki created a list of organizations that students can get involved with locally to volunteer in the future that students received along with their doughnut. Student volunteers included Abby Cosper, Alexis Butkiewicz, Jenna Montrose, Amber Sweet, Olivia Fernandez, Joanna Mackey, John Hall, Sharon Bennett, Naomi Bennett, Haley Anderson, and Ethan Garrett.Junior Alexis Butkiewicz said, “Doughnut Day was definitely a success! My favorite part was being a part of making the banners so when everyone walked into school they were able to know what Doughnut Day was about. It was a great way for our club to give back to the Seneca community.”
The entire Seneca community was included in this event — all students, staff, bus drivers, security, maintenance and custodial staff, and other support staff.
Freshman John Hall said, “I thought Doughnut Day was a complete success. Everyone got a laugh out of it and got a free doughnut! It was a blast to participate, and I thought it made everyone’s Friday a bit more positive. I hope we get to do it next year as well!” Sophomore Brooke Parry added, “Being able to put a smile on everyone’s faces and thank them for their volunteer work by giving them a free doughnut made me feel good.”
