Students and staff at Haliburton Highlands Secondary School (HHSS) embraced the spirit of giving this festive season, collecting goodies for the Interact club’s annual Christmas gift drive.
Held every year in the lead up to the holidays, the initiative has become a staple of the school’s pre-Christmas festivities, says club member, Hazel Jones. Students are encouraged to bring in toys, games, gift cards, school supplies, hats, mitts, scarves, and hygiene products, which are divided into gift bags and donated to the 4Cs Food Bank in Haliburton and the Minden Community Food Centre.
“The bags are handed out to families in-need, or who might be struggling… the idea is to make sure everyone can enjoy Christmas,” Jones said.
Between Nov. 27 and Dec. 5, the school community rallied to put together 51 gift bags, which were dropped off at the food banks last week.
There was a competitive component introduced this year – the 20 participating classrooms were split into two teams, captained by principal, Jenn Mills, and vice principal, Andrea Borysiuk. Donations were tracked, with the team that collected the most gifts getting the chance to come up with challenges for teachers to do at the school’s holiday assembly.
Mills’ team was declared the winner, with her and 10 other teachers facing the forfeit.
“We haven’t decided what it’s going to be yet, but it’ll be something silly and fun,” Jones said. “Last year some of the teachers had students do their makeup, we’ve also done things like shaving hair.”
This is Jones’ second year on the Interact club – the high school equivalent of Rotary. The Grade 10 student said it’s a great way to engage with the school community and make new friends. The club has 25 members.
This is Interact’s second major event of the school year, following a successful food drive over Halloween. Jones said she always looks forward to these initiatives, as the wider school community usually buys in.
“These things sort of take over school for about a week – kids are always talking about it in the halls, friends try to one-up each other, the teachers find creative ways to encourage donations. People really get into it,” Jones said.
She added the club is hoping to do something to raise awareness about homelessness in the new year. Plans are also underway for the annual international fundraising campaign, where Interact collects money for the Mahatma Gandhi Sishu Sisksha Sadan School in northern India. Proceeds support the infrastructure of the school and purchase of much-needed supplies, Jones said.
