‘Tis the Season for Giving at NHS 

In the month of December, the spirit of giving back has filled NHS as various ongoing service activities to help the community during the Holiday season with the assistance of the student body’s contributions. 

This year, NHS has a Toys for Tots drive with a twist. The radio station, Mix 104.1, has made it a challenge between neighboring high schools to see who can collect the most toys. The Norwood Mustangs is competing against the Walpole Rebels. 

Ms. Nottebart, a teacher at Norwood High, got the school involved in the Toys for Tots drive. The toys will be distributed to children in need. The radio station’s goal is for the high schools to collectively donate 10,000 toys for these children. 

Ms. Nottebaert reached out to the radio station and got Norwood High approved to be a Toy for Tots center of donation. Ms. Nottebart explains that the “two stipulations are that we drop the toys off and do a minimum of 500, so we decided this would be an awesome activity for kids and community members to get involved with.” 

This activity has spread to the entire Norwood community as parents, high school students, and elementary students have become involved. “There is a drop-off at the high school, but we also have the Oldham, Prescott, and the Cleveland” who are participating in the Toys for Tots drive as well, says Ms. Nottebart. The toys from those schools will then be added to the large number of donations that NHS has already. 

Ms. Nottebart hopes this new service activity becomes a tradition at Norwood because it “helps get the kids involved because they see that they can help families and it doesn’t have to be a huge monetary donation and that it can be literally anything that is going to a kid that might not be getting anything else, so it helps them spread that cheer.” 

Some toys will also be set aside for Norwood families in need as well, and the drive will be incorporated into Norwood Girls’ basketball’s first home game this Friday, Dec. 13. 

As of now, Norwood High exclusively has collected 858 toys and that pile will continue to grow as the elementary schools send in their donations. 

There is also the Gift Card Drive at NHS this week, sponsored by the National Honor Society. During lunch, members of the society are looking for any small monetary donation that will go to buying gift cards that are given to NHS students to help provide families in need with food and gifts for the holiday season. 

Ms. Newman, the head of the National Honor Society organization, says this “is one of my favorite ones that we do every year because you can see the impact that it has on our direct school community.” 

“Last year, the organization raised about $800 and in previous years we have raised over $1000”, says Ms. Newman. She hopes that the organization and student body can raise as much money as possible “to do a lot of good.” 

Ms. Newman knows that the holiday season is a very busy time about buying and receiving gifts, but a simple donation “can make a really big difference.”  

Spirit Club has also been participating in service activities through their annual candy cane sales during lunch and the Stockings for Soldiers project. Students can buy candy canes at lunch that will be sent to their friends during homeroom next week. All the proceeds go to Globe Santa, the Boston Globe’s annual appeal for children in need during the holiday season. For years, they have granted the holiday wishes of children by sending them the toy they ask for through their letters the children sent to Globe Santa. Stockings for Soldiers is a project Spirit Club participates in. The members stuff the stockings with snacks, necessities, and cards for soldiers overseas to spread some holiday cheer for them.

Mrs. Glynn, the Spirit Club advisor, says this is the second year they have participated in Stockings for Soldiers as it has been a running tradition in Spirit Club to give back to soldiers during the holiday season. “The kids love to give back and they love ‘America Monday’, so I think this goes with the theme,'' says Mrs. Glynn. 

Mrs. Glynn believes “the Candy Cane Drive is more of the holiday spirit and to get into the spirit of the holidays. It’s something nice for a friend to send them a candy cane, but then we decided the money should go to Globe Santa because it is helping somebody else, local people.” 

Mrs. Glynn hopes people participate in the spirit of giving back because “a dollar’s not that much and it’s a pretty easy way to have a little bit of cheer over the holiday season.” 

The Toys for Tots deadline to bring in a toy is Dec. 12. The Gift Card Drive’s last day of collection is Dec. 13. Candy cane sales will be during lunch and in the mornings in room 120, Mrs. Glynn’s room, on Dec. 11, 12, and 13. The candy canes will be distributed during homeroom on Dec. 17.