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While many teens were vegging out, watching TV or playing video games after school, a few dozen students at Furness High were looking at the big picture.
Crowded around a long table piled high with produce, canned goods and boxes of traditional Thanksgiving sides, the ninth- through 12th-graders at the school at 1900 S. Third St. worked alongside one another to bag the items and set them inside brightly decorated boxes after the final bell rang Monday afternoon.
All 33 are members of the school’s Variety Club that meets from 3 to 6 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. Sponsored and funded by the national organization Variety-A Children’s Charity, the Furness club provides creative programs, tutoring and indoor and outdoor activities to its kids. The students came up with the idea for the project that created Thanksgiving baskets for less fortunate local families– a first of its kind for the club — a little over three weeks ago.
All on hand Monday echoed the same sentiments — "Good!" — in regards to initiating the project and seeing it carried out.
For club member Brittany Shaw, helping others brought more to her life than just the satisfaction of giving.
"I don’t have no Mom so we really can’t have Thanksgiving at home," she said of her family — including her four siblings being raised by a single father — at Fourth and Christian streets.
The Shaws will receive one of the boxes, and the 18-year-old said she is now looking forward to the holiday. "People need to be helping people like this," the senior said.
Christine Sessoms, a classroom assistant at Furness who works with the club, said just seeing the working relationship between the students was wonderful.
"I thought it was very interesting and also good because kids sometimes don’t know how to help other people," the Queen Village resident said. "But our kids, that’s what we teach them — that other people sometimes need more help than you do."
Robert Chisholl, program
director and vocational itinerant at Furness, said the idea came during an open-circle discussion on the academic reading "Why Value Others?" which he described as a tool that led the children to "brainstorm" into giving back to the community.
"Basically, it’s teaching them how we’re all in this world together and we have to get along and share with each other," he said.
It’s a lesson they’ve taken to heart in the three weeks since the idea was born. The club reached out to the student body, teachers and staff to contribute to a food drive, as well as to raise money to purchase some of the larger items, like the fresh bread brought in Tuesday, the same evening frozen turkeys donated to Variety-A Children’s Charity by the Acme at 10th and Reed streets arrived and were placed into the boxes. The 15 families of about four to eight members the baskets will go to were mostly referenced by faculty and staff, with a few club members receiving the boxes as well.
After flyers posted around the school encouraged everyone to pitch in, two large garbage cans were placed by the front entrance earlier this month and were soon filled with canned goods. Chisholl said several teachers wanting to raise money sold bottled water in their classrooms, raising $200 the director and several club members took to the ShopRites at 1851 S. Columbus Blvd. and 1301 W. Oregon Ave. to purchase additional items like water and juice. One staff member donated three bags of fresh vegetables — 50 pounds each of potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes.
Sessoms also said the members were looking forward to their own Thanksgiving, funded by Variety-A Children’s Charity — which serves ages up to 18 with temporary and/or permanent disabilities resulting from injury, illness, or congenital conditions — and prepared by staff members Tuesday evening after the families picked up their boxes.
"I think with them knowing what the purpose is, they’re more into it. They’re ready to pack the boxes and distribute them. Tomorrow is the big dinner, I think that’s part of it — them knowing they’re going to be rewarded as well," she said.
Bob Goldstein, an autistic support teacher at Edward Bok Tech Vocational High and a volunteer with the club, praised the students for their hard work.
"I think it’s a great idea for these kids to get involved with something," he said. "Even though they’re not as fortunate as others, as least they get the idea of being fortunate enough to have to share."
Club member Hasson Bradley got his friends involved by encouraging them to donate to a cause the senior said is "very important."
"I think it’s great because everybody’s banding together for a good cause," the 19-year-old from 30th and Tasker streets said. "We’re helping people eat. There’s a lot of people who can’t afford a decent meal. I think it’s great that I’m actually helping do something right now, when I could be at home watching TV. I’m actually helping people eat; not everybody gets that opportunity."
