A group of Adlai Stevenson High School started a recent school day earlier than usual, prepping donated toys and other gifts so they could be given out to area children in time for the holidays.
The annual Give-A-Thon returned the school in Lincolnshire this year and included a Nov. 30 distribution day where students helped to load bags of festively wrapped gifts for delivery. Bicycles, many with bows of them, were wheeled in place that Wednesday to help Santa Claus fulfill holiday wishes for Lake County children.
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“It’s great to see the whole entire Stevenson community coming together to support our Lake County community, which is one of the things that I love and the students are the ones that really step up here,” said Courtney Zabrin, community service coordinator at Stevenson.
The campaign was led by students in the school’s National Honor Society.
Enough food was donated through the initiative to stock the Vernon Township food pantry for more than six months. Also, at least six months worth of baby and parenting supplies were provided to PADS Lake County.
Throughout November, students campaigned to collect money clothing, food, toys and more.
“The teachers offer a little support here and there but it’s really the students who are leading everything here with this giant initiative,” said Zabrin.
Zabrin said the Give-A-Thon gives the volunteering students an opportunity to see “the whole process” of giving.
“They start with the fundraising, they adopt the family, they find out what the family is requesting or needs, they go out and buy those things with the money that they fundraised, and then they buy those things, they wrap those things, bring them here to school and then they’re able to see all of this,” Zabrin said.
Zabrin said with this year’s effort, 67 bikes were collected and will be delivered to families in the Lake County area. Also, more than 4,000 diapers, over 3,000 wipes and 32 boxes of additional baby items were packed and given to PADS. Some 209 boxes of food was prepped to be taken to the Vernon Area Township food pantry along with 2,800 boxes of macaroni-and-cheese.
“This year we are supporting 1,235 children with gifts, which is over 400 families,” Zabrin said with a smile.
The students that distribution morning wore bright red long-sleeved shirts that read “We Give Because We Care” on the back.
Hannah Yu, 18, a senior from Buffalo Grove, recently went shopping at a Target store in Vernon Hills to fulfill a wish list. Yu shopped for clothes, puzzles and toys before being a part of a wrapping party.
“It was really fun,” Yu said of the shopping excursion.
Subham Mitra, 16, a senior from Buffalo Grove, said, “Knowing that we’re able to provide for 400 plus families in the community is just amazing for me. This was really a community event and it meant all of us coming together and working together.”
Lekha Kothapalli, 17, a senior from Kildeer, said, the Give-A-Thon brings students and the greater community together. She said the hugeness of the school makes events like this important.
“It’s so important that we are able to help all these families out,” she said. “I feel like everyone at Stevenson kind of gets in this bubble and then I think having this huge season of giving is really important to kind of show them that a lot of students or a lot of people in the area aren’t as fortunate as we are and it’s important to give back to them.”
Brian Yoon, 17, a senior from Hawthorn Woods, said he grew up fortunate, especially in the holiday season, with his family always able to buy gifts for him.
“So now that I am in high school and I am able to contribute back to the community, I think it’s a really valuable experience being able to understand that not everybody’s in the same luxury,” Yoon said. “So being able to have these presents for these children during the holiday season is something that’s like, really meaningful to me.”
For Joyce Hu, 17, a senior from Vernon Hills, it’s the group effort that makes a difference.
“When a group of individuals, all focused towards the same goal of helping the community, comes together, we have a turnout like this,” said Hu.
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer.