Contributed by Peighton Harak | Edmond North DECA, OK
One of the best things to do during the holiday season is to help others in your community. Collecting food for a food pantry, writing cards for senior citizens or emergency responders, volunteering at local nonprofits or sponsoring a family are great examples of getting involved in your community during the winter season and creating the holiday spirit by helping others!
For the last 12 years, my chapter, Edmond North High School DECA, has organized The North Star Angel Tree Project. This is a school-wide project aimed at helping families during the holiday season by providing them with a box of non-perishable food, clothes, presents and household items. All of the sponsored families are from our local Adopt-a-Family Project.
The project runs from the end of October to the middle of December, and this year, we had 30 families sponsored by 25 clubs and organizations in our school. We call each family to see what they would like, then share the requests with their sponsor through our school while keeping the family’s personal information private. Once the sponsors have all the presents wrapped and ready for their families, we pick up the presents from their rooms and call the families back to schedule a pick-up time.
Our DECA members then take the presents to the family and wish them a Happy Holiday Season. This project helps to bring not only community involvement to our DECA chapter but also to the entire school.
