Massapequa High School student clubs have spearheaded numerous charitable initiatives during the 2022 holiday season. The generosity of students and staff extends into the local community and beyond.
The Chiefs Challenge club set up a giving tree in the lobby to fulfill requests for eight families. Students and staff could take an angel-shaped tag, which included a child’s gender, age and wish, buy the gift, wrap it and bring it in to school.
Adviser Joanne Waters said that more than 100 gifts were collected, including arts and crafts kits, books, clothes, toys and gift cards. The donations were then given to YES Community Counseling Center to be distributed to Massapequa families.
“It really just lends to the spirit of our school, which is helping people in need and bringing happiness to others,” said Chiefs Challenge member Victoria Chu.
The Key Club, under the direction of Michael LaBella, hosted its annual holiday toy drive to benefit children at the Head Start Early Childhood center in Hempstead. Students and staff could leave toys in donation boxes throughout the school. Members of the Key Club, as well as students in Go Green classes, then wrapped all of the gifts.
Additionally, the Key Club collected toys for teenagers undergoing treatment at Cohen Children’s Medical Center.
Art students and teachers made hundreds of ornaments out of clay for the National Art Honor Society’s annual fundraiser, which include sales outside of the gymnasium. Money raised will be used for scholarships for graduating seniors in June.
The honor society, led by advisers Paul Leone and Patti Krakoff, also designed its annual community holiday coloring book. The digital book features holiday and winter drawings by art students and teachers that can be printed out and colored.
The Dog Rescue Club held a holiday bake sale to continue its support for Paws of War, an organization that provides companion animals to veterans and rescues animals in overseas war zones. Students raised nearly $200 from their after-school sale of bake goods, said adviser Christina Sabbiondo.
Photo captions:
1: Massapequa High School’s Chiefs Challenge club collected more than 100 gifts for local families from its giving tree. From left are adviser Joanne Water and students Tiffany Chan, Kirsten Chin, Kaia Mueller, Rosalie Avalos and Victoria Chu.
2: Sophomore Benjamin Lopez, left, and Dominic Kufner helped support the Key Club’s toy drive for Head Start by wrapping toys.
3: National Art Honor Society members, from left, Sara Ghaly, Sofia Panagoulias and Sam Greco, sold ornaments handmade by Massapequa art students and teachers to raise money for scholarships.
4: The Dog Rescue Club held a holiday bake sale as a fundraiser for Paws of War.
Photos courtesy of the Massapequa School District
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