From Nov. 10 to Nov. 23, members of Care for Kids, a club at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, created cards expressing gratitude for essential workers, which will be delivered to several local hospitals. 
Junior Emily Yang, along with her two Vice Presidents, juniors Kaitlyn Mohabir and Jazlyn Navarro, founded Care for Kids in September 2020, intending to provide SPFHS students with meaningful community service opportunities that help local children in hospitals as well as those who work in the medical field. Their card drive is the first service activity for Care for Kids members. 
“When I was… researching what kind of volunteer opportunities [we could organize]… I saw some of the messages that some people wrote to healthcare workers on one website,” Yang said. “I found [the messages] really nice, and I’m not even a healthcare worker. I found them so heartwarming. I feel like we should… all have a little bit more love in the world. I know that sounds [corny], but this is a way we can do that through the club.”
Care for Kids quickly piqued the interest of about 70 SPFHS students, all of whom share Yang, Mohabir and Navarro’s passion for community service. The response to the card drive has been overwhelmingly positive; Yang, Mohabir and Navarro anticipate that over 200 cards will be delivered to healthcare heroes. 
“I think for me for the goal of this event, it’s just for our cards to bring positivity during these… dark times,” Mohabir said. “[A lot of] people are taking [COVID-19] as a joke, so letting others know that it is real and that we appreciate [health care professionals’] work is kind of the main goal… for me personally for the cards.” 
In a post-COVID-19 world, Yang, Mohabir and Navarro hope to continue work towards her original mission for the club, organize visits to the Children’s Specialized Hospital, and raise money for local charities. 
“I look forward to the future with great optimism, as we have such a strong group of dedicated students working together,” Novarro said. “In the future, I’d love to have us be able to visit children in a multitude of specialized hospitals, interacting with them and bringing them joy. One of my largest aspirations for this club is to expand our outreach and raise funds to help families out even more.”
For now, Care for Kids hopes to expand their impact in as safe a manner as possible. 
“I think it’s important to offer events that can directly impact the community, and I really hope we can connect with children and their families while providing them with support they may not have had otherwise,” Navarro said. “I wholeheartedly believe that as long as we’re able to bring a positive change or experience to a young child’s life, we will have succeeded in our mission.”
Yang, Mohabir and Navarro encourage all SPFHS students to follow @careforkids.spf on Instagram for more information and join their Google Classroom using the code iwzawml if they are interested in getting involved in future service opportunities.