Across the Westerville City Schools, students, teachers, staff members have rallied around charitable projects to support local community groups and school families for the holidays. The district’s three high schools kept tradition with their annual drive for Westerville Caring and Sharing virtual this year. Here’s a round-up of some of the projects, by school:
ALCOTT ELEMENTARY
The school hosted a food drive competition between Cohorts A and B for Westerville Area Resource Ministry (WARM).
HAWTHORNE ELEMENTARY
Community partners organized drives to support students and families at Hawthorne. WALT club at North partnered with Neighborhood Bridges to shop and donate toys. Neighborhood Bridges donated gift cards. Minerva Park Police and the Minerva Park mayor donated toys and shopped with a cop. Four anonymous individuals adopted a Hawthorne family for the holidays.
McVAY ELEMENTARY
Students donated more than 1,100 items weighing 1,609 pounds as part of food drive competition to WARM. A previous McVay family sponsored a family last year and this year they decided to sponsor two families for the holidays.
ROBERT FROST ELEMENTARY
The school created anti-stress kits for all students to take home and keep.
WILDER ELEMENTARY
Wilder's Trail Blazers, composed of student leaders in grades 2 to 5, raised $600 in donations and gift cards for Westerville Caring and Sharing as part of a collection drive.
BLENDON MIDDLE SCHOOL
Members of the Blendon National Junior Honor Society collected about 2,200 granola bars for WARM. The ministry uses granola bars as part of the student meals that they send home and supplies had been low this fall. Students also collected homemade Thanksgiving cards for WARM to give out as part of their Thanksgiving Blessing event.
GENOA MIDDLE SCHOOL
The Genoa Student Council gathered 62 bags of items for the WARM/Rotary Holiday Food Drive. Residents from Covington Meadows volunteered time and money to fill the bags.
WALNUT SPRINGS MIDDLE SCHOOL
More than a dozen students and staff volunteered to make hats to donate to patients at St. Jude's Hospital. As part of the makespace event, students and staff received kits to make the hats, which will be given to Joann Fabrics next month. The store will then distribute to the hospital.