CHS teen volunteers make a difference
Photo Credit: M. Mielke
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December 10, 2009 • Meg Mielke, Editor in chief
Filed under 2009-2010
There are many Chugiak students and staff that continually participate in volunteer activities that raise money for local and national charities.
Chugiak’s branch of the Key coordinated the Day of Caring Food Drive at CHS, collecting 1,737 pounds of food through a class competition. Key Club also helped at Trick or Treat Town and cumulatively logged 35 volunteer hours, manning doors and windows. Key Club is still in the process of decorating Christmas stockings for the Salvation Army to include in their Christmas baskets for those who are less fortunate. And not just Key Club students are helping; many students have volunteered their time working toward the goal of 500 stockings, which at last count seemed to be exceeded.
NJROTC is overseeing CHS’ Toys for Tots Program, which is being hosted by the U.S. Marine Corps in Alaska.
The Alpha-Omega club has been sanitizing student and teacher desks every other week this year, they are also sending Christmas boxes to children in Africa. Alpha-Omega members also bought a year’s worth of school supplies for a school in a remote village on the Amazon River in Peru.
The Chugiak DDF team continued the tradition of volunteering to paint the windows of our business partner, Eagle River Carrs Safeway, for the holidays. This is a nice way for CHS students to give back to these business partners for all the wonderful things they have done for the school.
Chugiak’s FCCLA branch is currently collecting donations to raise money in order to buy bed-nets to save children in Malawi, a country where 20% of all children die before the age of five–half of which are malaria related deaths.
Both the student council and individual student government classes have undergone their own charitable fundraisers. All proceeds from the Snowball dance held in November went to a local charity, Kid’s Kitchen. And all the proceeds from the planned Battle of the Bands in January will also go to this good cause.
One very successful fundraiser done by the student council was the Make A Wish fundraiser. Senior Mack Holmberg, when asked about the drive stated, “The Make a Wish fundraiser was student council’s baby, and due to the enormous support from the student body as a whole the student council was able to receive $532 to benefit the Make a Wish branch in Alaska.”
On top of individual fundraisers, all student government and student council members are required to do four hours of community service a quarter, reflecting the body’s commitment to the community.
