Service clubs spread holiday cheer

The holiday season was a time of giving back to the community, and many clubs on campus were in the holiday spirit. National Honors Society, Red Cross and Interact all did activities to help the needy this holiday season.

Interact went caroling door to door around the Golden Triangle, asking for cans to donate to Second Harvest Food Bank on Dec. 10.

“It’s a tradition,” junior Interact events commissioner Derek Chao said. “Interact had been doing ‘Caroling for Cans’ since before we got here.”

About 15 Interact members dressed in festive holiday garments, including reindeer antlers and Christmas hats, sang Christmas carols to residents to collect donations and spread holiday cheer.

“It was fun visiting all the houses dressed up for the holidays,” Chao said. “It felt great to bring the festivities to their front doors.”

Interact was able to collect about 550 pounds of cans. Members handed out fliers in the neighborhoods where they were going to carol beforehand so that people knew to have cans ready to donate.

“I think that this year we were able to have more success than before because people knew that we were coming,” Chao said.

Red Cross also spread holiday cheer. Members sold and delivered candy cane grams on campus. They also held the Operation Care and Comfort drive, which collected DVDs, CDs, batteries, pens, pencils, stationary, stickers, books and more.

National Honor Society (NHS) also decided to bring out the holiday spirit in people by caroling. NHS visited Good Samaritan Hospital on Dec. 22 and 23. This was the first year that NHS did the event, but they hope to have started a tradition that will last.

“Our goal in this event is to bring joy to the patients and families,” NHS co-president Rachelle Kim said. “The hospital is not a place anyone wants to spend their holidays in, and we just want to cheer them up and be there for them.”