The student council here at Worthington Kilbourne runs a Compassion Project fundraiser, which raises money to give Christmas gifts to Worthington children. Each classroom is assigned a child with their name and a list of things they like, students are then able to bring in toys or money (which is then used to buy toys) to give to their kid. Student Council has high hopes that this year will be a huge success and that they will be able to bring a little Christmas joy to kids all around the district. Felicity Hess is the President of Junior student council and is excited as ever to share the process of making Christmas special for everyone. “Being a part of Student Council means your automatically apart of the project. Everybody has a role; everyone has a classroom that their in charge of to get kids to bring in money and toys,” she shares.
This Project builds the community and helps spread the Christmas spirit, and there are a ton of ways to get involved. “If you’re not able to be a part of the student council there is still an impactful way to be involved like giving any money and if you are not fortunate enough to give one dollar or five dollars you can still help out by asking if you can help wrap gifts or just spreading the word.” Hess explains. Christmas is the time of giving and it’s a blessing that Kilbourne has a way to give back to the community. ” There’s so much Christmas joy, and it really has nothing to do with receiving things. Its just about you giving and that’s definitely what the Christmas spirit is about.”
While the project is full of amazing moments it does have its struggles for those who participate. As a student council member its their job to collect money from their assigned classroom and it can be hard to stand in front of people you don’t know, but the real pressure is on when it’s time to shop for the presents. “I wish I had an unlimited budget to just supply these kids with so many presents. You have to keep track of all the money, spend it all, and then sometimes a little of your own money,” Hess shares. Kailey Miller and Alivia Kraft, two sophomores in the student council share that “trying to encourage students to bring in money,” was the most stressful part for them.
While stressful it’s all worth it because the Compassion project isn’t like the other projects the student council runs. With trick or canning, it’s amazing to look at all those cans and know they are going to someone who needs them but with the Compassion Project, there’s something so special about being able to buy the presents and knowing it goes to the kids. It also takes more time, council members miss the second period to check on their assigned class and they also spend at least one to two hours shopping.
With all this hard work to make Christmas as special as possible for the little girls and boys of the Worthington Community, it pays off when they get to drop off the gift to the family the weekend after the gift wrapping. “It’s everyone’s favorite. I think it’s one of those times when we get to come together. There’s something really special about the Holiday Compassion Project”.
