“It’s just heartwarming to know that students actually want to help out; seeing their kind hearts makes me really happy.” 

That’s how senior and co-founder of the Student Guidance Committee (SGC) Emily Yang sums up her emotions when she sees fellow SPFHS students participate in community service opportunities. 

During the week of Dec. 13-17, the SGC organized a holiday drive in partnership with the Ozanam Homeless Shelter in Edison, NJ. 

“[We thought the drive] was a nice way to spread the holiday cheer, especially with so many families not being financially stable and having troubles throughout the pandemic,” Yang said. 

Students can sign up to donate for specific children and families on this Google Sheet and place their donations in the bins in the Main Office or Attendance Office. Students interested in donating can accumulate community service hours for their participation.

At the end of next week, seniors and co-founders of the SGC Kaitlyn Mohabir and Mary Adekunle will deliver the donations to the Ozanam Shelter. The SGC also partnered with the shelter in December 2020, making this their second annual drive.

“I get to see [the children’s] smiles first hand,” Mohabir said. “[I remember] the secretaries saying ‘wow, like this was such a big turnout….’ Seeing that someone else recognizes the good you’re doing for the community [is really rewarding]. Also, on Christmas morning, I liked opening up gifts like any child does, and, unfortunately, a lot of them can’t do that, so I feel like [participating in the drive] is just a perfect way  to make a childhood dream come true.”

It was important to Mohabir and Yang that the donations go to a local organization; they wanted to ensure that students would be making an impact on their community.

“We wanted to find the closest shelter to our community; we wanted to make an impact where we knew that these donations were going to go to the right people, and people close to home,” Mohabir said.

For more information regarding SGC, follow @student.guidance.committee on Instagram or visit their YouTube page.