TOWAMENCIN – The holidays are here, the holidays are here! It’s the time of year that many people cannot wait to come around and it is a busy time of year for everybody.

Everyone’s buzzing trying to get into the holiday spirit – college students are coming home, mom and dad are out shopping, grandma is making apple pie, and North Penn High School students are collecting and donating items around the area.

Key Club has had a constant stream of collections happening at North Penn over the past couple months, and at the same time, the Student Government Association (SGA) has been participating in the collecting too.

For weeks, Key Club partnered with SGA to host a clothing drive that had bins overflowing with bags of clothing that were donated by students, staff, and families in the area.

“Every morning when I come to work there were at least 20-30 bags of clothes piled in front of my door,” said Linda Law, the North Penn Athletics  secretary and advisor of Key Club, “I think we did a very good job with the clothing drive along side SGA.”

At the end of the collection, over 465 lbs of clothes were collected and donated to Big Brother, Big Sister. Robert Gaibler, the president of NPHS SGA, was overwhelmed with the participation from the school, “I’m so excited that so many people in North Penn got involved and I am very appreciative of the collaborative efforts from Key Club.”

Simultaneously, Emily Adelsberger ran the Love Your Brother Project that had students and staff bringing in various school supplies and sports equipment for schools in Philadelphia.

“Emily filled multiple cars, including my own, with school supplies to bring back to her house,” said Madeline Katz, President of NPHS Key Club, “it was an incredible thing to see.”

Speaking of incredible, the Key Club is hosting a classic holiday collection, Toys for Tots. Key Club has been holding this drive every year because it is always nothing short of a success. The toys collected in this drive are donated to kids all around the North Penn area and to the Towamencin Police Department.

“[The Police Department] does a certain collection for families in Towamencin,” said Law “and since our school is in Towamencin, we help them out also.”

Though the collection has been a little slow this year, according to Law, she’s hoping that they will ultimately reach similar numbers that they achieved in previous years.

Through the year, Key Club members have been and are just volunteering around the community. They’ve been helping out with school functions, such as elementary school Halloween dances, and random community events and drives, such as sorting out cans at Emmanuel Church.

No matter the numbers for these collections or how many events Key Club has helped, the important thing is that there is an impact being made within the community. For anyone, it’s a tremendous feeling that you have made a difference, whether it’s volunteering or simply donating an item.

The impacts of community service extend from one end of the spectrum to the other, for it affects all people whether they are the giver or the receiver.

According to Gaibler, community service is more than just giving in donations. It also allows for communities to become closer because “it allows for everyone to work towards a common goal. Every student who gave in their time for this event or gave clothing worked to better people’s lives. Working to achieve this goal definitely made the North Penn community come closer together.”

Additionally, community service always brightens the day of the receiver. No matter who you are, it’s a comforting feeling to know someone is thinking and caring about you.

Katz has been a part of Key Club for three years and she said she loves seeing how her own actions have an effect on other people, “We get thank you cards from the people we help out and it’s really heartwarming.”

Since community service picks up around the holidays, these times act as the perfect time for people to take a moment to reflect on their lives. The luxuries in life, no matter how small, should not be taken for granted because they are not available for everybody. Gaibler commented on the subject saying “Through volunteering, we see that our lives may not be perfect, but they truly are a gift.”