Community Service Club begins preparations for the annual Giving Tree Project
As December approaches, members of Community Service Club (CSC) are working as hard as ever on The Giving Tree Project. The Giving Tree is a project where CSC helps migrant students from low-income families by donating daily items such as books, jackets, school supplies, and small gifts. Each bag is assigned to each specific student, and according to their preferences, it is filled with donations and gifts generously provided by elementary and MHS students, teachers, and parents.
“Every year, there are a lot of items to handle,” stated Jonathan Kim (11C), the secretary of CSC, “It would have been a much harder task without the team’s help. This year, we distributed [the] tasks among the group members, [so that the] absence of [a] team leader would not affect how the members deal with the task since every member knows what they were supposed to do. I hope that this year’s distribution can end without a single mistake with the gifts for the kids.” The 2018 Giving Tree is slightly different from those of previous years. Ever since the Chinese government set stricter qualifications for migrant schools in Shanghai. This year, CSC is heading out of Shanghai to Blue Sky School, located in Suzhou, to deliver the bags.
“I think it’s very important to reach out to low-income families outside of Shanghai, and support them with love and care,” said Minkyo Han (10A), “I hope for our Giving Tree project to expand more each year to those people in isolated areas who cannot afford their necessities.” Additionally, this year CSC decided to use the donated money to buy a variety of additional items to randomly put into the bags – small packages provided from Home Sweet Home, baseball, Barbie dolls, Transformers, long underwear, socks, books, wallets, basketball, puzzles, etc.
“So far, elementary students and teachers offer the most donations, but I hope that MHS students, parents, and teachers will meet their dedication as well. Also, I hope that we can successfully fill all the bags with items that children will love,”stated Gina Choi (11A), treasurer of CSC. “SMIC-I was, is, and will always be one of the largest donors for the Giving Tree Project.”
Preparation for this project has been ongoing for the past two months, and CSC hopes that their hard work will pay off, and make changes in children’s lives with love and care.
Featured image– Children happily open the Giving Tree bags. Photo Courtesy of Kai Xing
by Kelly Woo