December is internationally known as the holiday season, including Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. These days are characterized by the spirit of giving joy and happiness. West’s clubs decided to join in by holding events to give back to the community. Here are a few of them:

French Club – They decided to help kids at Wake Forest Hospital by bringing them joy in the form of wrapped presents. They had their club members help wrap gifts for the kids at the Ronald McDonald house, which they will later have delivered by Santa.

“I think it is important to help the community out during the holidays because not everyone is as fortunate as us and we should donate and spend more time with the people that don’t have families or can’t afford presents and spread happiness to them because the holiday season is for giving and happiness,” French club member junior Hasan Hashim said.

Spanish Honor Society – Around this time of year, some families aren’t fortunate enough to be able to afford presents and treats for their kids, so Spanish Honor Society decided to help out these families by having their members donate gifts to a local church in need.

“It is important to give back because we are supposed to take care of each other and give others a chance at other opportunities and joys that I have been given,” senior spanish honor society member Baylee Clapp said.

Student Government Association (SGA) – It is important to remember that even though the holiday season may be nice and wonderful for a lot of people, some kids aren’t fortunate enough to own warm coats in the winter. SGA teamed up with the Titan Achievers to start a coat drive for Northill Elementary, whose students are less fortunate than most of the student body at West.

“I believe that those kids deserve winter clothes to stay warm, and unfortunately they don’t always get those and so it’s really important for us to give back and look out for kids who maybe aren’t as fortunate as us,” SGA vice president junior Cy Seeley said.

Junior Classical League (JCL) – Charity doesn’t always have to be broad and cover a big group of people; it can still be effective when narrowing the focus and helping individual families. JCL members sponsored a family of three, a single mother and her two daughters, giving them holiday gifts.

“This family only has one parent to take care of two children, while a normal family has two, so helping out a single mother would be more beneficial and what the holidays are really about,” JCL member junior Nghi Tran said.