Family * Travel * Food

How teens are giving our community a little H.O.P.E. this holiday season

My high school daughter, Briahnna is one very busy student. She is involved in two magnet programs at school and takes all honors/IB courses. She is the sport's editor of her yearbook and is also involved in the Youth Action Council as well as H.O.P.E.. HOPE stands for Helping Other People Everywhere. The HOPE organization at her school collects coats, unwrapped toys and non-perishable food items for needy families in the community. Each year the HOPE chair sets a goal on how many food items they want to collect. The goal this year is over 20,000. Being involved in HOPE means that you have to sacrifice time on the weekends as well as after school. That is very hard with Briahnna's demanding courses, but she manages to get the job done! They have students volunteer for a time slot to collect food donations in front of grocery stores that have given them permission to do so. It's a win-win since the store will sell the items that end up being donated and the teens are able to have a secure place for collections.

As a family, we all pitch in and help where we can. I have volunteered to help purchase food items with any money they collect, since I know how to stretch a buck! Briahnna and a couple of her team members set up in front of Sam's Club last weekend and just in their 2-hour shift, they FILLED my very large car trunk and part of the back seat with so many donations! We helped her to get the items to the storage unit on the school campus to be sorted when they got back to school that following week.
I am so proud of Briahnna and her fellow HOPE team members for all of the time they are putting in to help others. Brie has really been enjoying herself despite having to wake up early some Saturday mornings. She is very passionate about this worthy cause.
We have used this time to explain how important it is to help others to little William. He really enjoyed helping to bring items into the food storage unit. He was sad when he learned that there are so many families who don't have a lot of food in their home. He was devastated when he found out that some kids may not get any toys for Christmas. I love that he is understanding it as much as a five year old can.
HOPE will collect food donations until the second week of December. They are already off to such an amazing start and I anticipate they will make their goal. All of the coats, food and toys will be delivered to a local food bank to distribute to needy families in our community. I look forward to attending the unveiling of all their hard work at the HOPE Assembly next month. I will be sure to post an update.
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