5 local events to volunteer for during the holiday season

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PHOTO Dow Kaenpracha

Graduate Maci Best and senior Karenna Mansour volunteer at the 2019 Brunch with Santa event.

Taron Masi, Online Editor

With the holiday season approaching, there are many events centered around giving back to the Fenton community. If students are looking for ways to get involved, here are 5 events coming up where volunteers are needed.

Holiday Food Drive

From Nov. 25 to Nov. 29 Key Club is hosting a Holiday Food Drive. They will be setting up boxes in SRT classrooms, as well as in the elementary schools and AGS, where students are encouraged to donate non-perishable food items. Once the week is through, students can volunteer with Key Club to go drop off the food items to individual households with the help of the Fenton Kiwanis Club. This is an easy way to contribute to the community during the holiday season.

Santa’s Workshop

On Dec. 5 from 5-7 pm, there will be a gift-wrapping event going on at Tomek-Eastern elementary. The purpose of the event is to provide less expensive gifts for community members to purchase. Volunteers can sign up through the National Honors Society (NHS) or contact the NHS president senior Karenna Mansour for more information on how to get involved. 

Lunch with Santa

Another event Key Club volunteers, as well as anyone who wants to get in contact with the organizers, can help with is the annual Lunch with Santa, which falls on Dec. 7 this year. It is one of many events going on during this year’s Jinglefest located downtown. At this event, volunteers work to set up for kids of all ages to come and participate in arts and crafts.

Clara’s Hope

Clara’s Hope runs an office out of the Center of Hope, located in front of the Freedom Center. Their mission is to help children in the foster care system. The organization works to get volunteers connected with a family in need, in a way, ‘adopting’ a family during the holidays.

The Warda Foundation

The Warda Foundation, founded by Jason Warda and his family, puts on multiple events throughout the year, like the Thanksgiving CommUNITY lunch and Project Santa. The Thanksgiving CommUNITY lunch provides a Thanksgiving meal on Nov. 28, free of charge, to anyone who needs it. For Project Santa, The Warda Foundation teams up with The Whaley Children’s Center to provide gifts to children and families in need. 

To find more available local volunteer opportunities, go to https://www.volunteermatch.org/ and search Fenton for a wide variety of events going on during the holiday season.