The holidays are a busy time for many. A lot of time is spent planning for events, spending time with family and friends and enjoying the holiday season. During the holidays is also a very important time for helping others in your community. People tend to volunteer, donate and help those who may not be as fortunate as them. At FHN, NHS is dedicated to volunteering their time to helping others and participating in a special service opportunity during the holidays. Students during the month of November were able to make a box to give to Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization that provides aid to people in physical need as a key part of Christian missionary work. 

“I think it’s good that students are coming together for a good cause and they all want to help,” senior NHS member Leila Vakil said. “I hope it can help the families have a better Christmas so that their kids don’t feel left out compared to other families they may know.” 

Current junior NHS sponsor, Angela Mason, heard about Samaritan’s Purse from her church and thought it would be a great opportunity for NHS members to get involved. In this opportunity, NHS members were instructed to fill a shoe box with a variation of Christmas items for a boy or girl. These items could include anything from self care products, to clothes, to activities and games they are able to play. 

“I think that for NHS members around the holidays, we think ‘Oh, what am I going to get and  who am I going to give to’,” senior NHS president, Grace Sickendick said. “But with Samaritan’s Purse, you don’t even know these people are. These are complete random acts of kindness, you’ve never met these kids and you’re making their holidays. It’s not even the gifts themselves, of course the kids will be all about the gifts but the families will see there is somebody there for them that we don’t even know.”

The junior NHS class collected 42 boxes and the senior NHS class collected 15 boxes for Samaritan’s Purse. They hope to continue to bring awareness to organizations similar to this, and have this as a community service project for NHS members years following. 

“I had a student get one of these boxes before, she lived in Europe,” senior NHS sponsor Donna Malkmus said. “She remembered that she got it and I was absolutely shocked. It was so cool.”