During the past two weeks, from Oct. 27 to Nov. 5, the Elmira High School Interact Club held a clothing drive to help those in need during the winter season.
The clothing drive included a class competition, with the grade level donating the highest number of items to be treated to ice cream during lunch.
Overall, students donated more than 500 items. The sophomores and seniors ran head to head throughout the competition. Ultimately, the sophomores won with 196 items donated. The seniors came in second with 178 items donated. The juniors donated 83 items, and the ninth-grade class donated 49 items.
The Interact Club accepted clean clothing such as coats, gloves, leggings, socks and more as well as diapers. The items will be delivered this Wednesday to several locations, including Hope, Safety Alliance on Pearl Street in Eugene.
Club members also will meet with Barbara Nell, the coordinator of outreach and volunteers to deliver the women’s and children’s clothing, diapers and toys, and Nell will explain more about the program and how the clothing drive will benefit those in need.
Interact Club members plan to spend about $200 of their budget to purchase toys and other items for kids as Christmas nears. They also will carpool to the GoTo (Give One, Take One) truck in which volunteers will pass out water to those who come and pick out the things they need.
Stephanie Hackett, the Interact Club adviser, said she hopes it will become more of an annual event. Originally, she didn’t have a specific goal going into it, only hoping that there was participation. Her hope was to get more students involved with community interactions.
For those who would like to participate in delivering the donated items with the Interact Club or would like more information about the club, contact Hackett by email at shackett@fernridge.k12.or.us or in the study hall room in the Learning Resource Center. Club meetings are held in Room 10 during lunch on Tuesdays.
