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The Kiwins Giving Tree
By Jennifer Ruiz, Assistant Editor While teenagers were busy shopping for gifts this past holiday, many were ashamed to admit that secretly they were thinking more about what they were going to get in return. On the contrary, Kiwins members, as well as other Chaffey students, sacrificed their time and money to make some worthy children happy on Christmas morning. |
These children were from Hillview Acres, a home for abused and orphan children. The kids ranged from ages 3 to 17. In all, 41 children sent their wish lists in the form of paper ornaments to Kiwins in the hopes of receiving a Christmas present.
Kiwins set up their traditional giving tree on November 29, and by the end of the week, most were already gone. When the gift collection ended on December 10, dozens of gifts had been donated. Some people who missed the early deadline turned in gifts anyway. Mrs. McKinnon, the Kiwins advisor, accepted the gifts gladly. By Friday, December 17, the grand total of gifts came to over a hundred.
Seniors were among the many who snatched the children’s requests first. They were given community service hours for shopping by some teachers, so many took advantage. There was, however, the joy and humanitarianism of the holidays. Many students shopped for gifts for the kids of Hillview Acres just because they felt the generous need to. Lydia Morales (00) said, “Some of these kids want extravagant things, but some want things as basic as socks and underwear.” It’s true that while many asked for CD players and Sony Play Stations, some asked merely for coloring books and watercolors. That is the great thing about the lists; some are outlandish and others very simple. The misfortune of these children had a huge effect on many CHS students. Megan Crawford (00) said while picking up toys from the classrooms that there were a lot more donated this year than in the past. Thanks to all of Chaffey’s caring “Santa’s,” 41 kids had a little extra Christmas Day.
ornaments he Kiwins advisor, accepted late well and alikeed kids,ingfrom“ornaments |
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Boxes of Joy: Interact Delivers Hope for
the Holidays
By Christy Roberts, Feature Editor
This holiday season, Chaffey’s Interact Club decided to do something special for some less fortunate kids in a neighboring country. On December 6, they loaded 45 shoeboxes filled with goodies and sent them off to a religious ranch in Mexico for destitute families who receive aide from American missionaries in building homes and trying to farm their own food.
The children who received the boxes all live in an orphanage on the ranch and have never seen Christmas presents before. When they opened their shoeboxes full of toys, coloring books, crayons, clothes, socks, underwear, toothbrushes, and many other everyday things we tend to take for granted, they gazed in amazement and wonder at the generosity of strangers from afar.
The location of the ranch is so rural that the contents of the shoeboxes had to be regulated, so as not to scare the children. Action figures from Star Wars, for example, could not be included because the children don’t have televisions and, therefore, have never seen any mutations of the human body. A figure such as Darth Mol would be thought demonic. There was, however, no shortage of something all children know, love dearly, and can never get enough of: candy.
The club spent two weeks collecting the contents of the boxes and a week wrapping all of them before sending them off with Pastor Cook, the American missionary on the ranch.
This is wonderful! he exclaimed at the site of the boxes piled high in the office of the group’s Rotary club sponsor. Mrs. Stewart, Club Advisor, and Vanessa Moreno (00), Club President, were especially pleased with the progress of how the club has grown.
Last year the club only had about twenty people, and now the classroom isn’t big enough for all the members to sit down.
In the future, Interact will be involved in many more activities like this, such as becoming pals with the residences of Victorian Manor, feeding the hungry and homeless, and the ever popular
Mr. Irresistible contest. If you simply can’t wait for all these good things to come, then join the club! |
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