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Walking into the library, you could feel the energy shift. Christmas music, wrapping paper strewn about and countless presents stacked all over the room. Student Association (SA) members are fueling the Christmas spirit one gift at a time.
Adopt-a-Family is a winter committee within Student Association that South participates in every year. Each class raises money and goes out to buy gifts for their specific family, or raises money for another family. The South students get gifts for the families in the North district and the North students get gifts for the families in the South district, which are then delivered during the last week of school before break.
Adopt-a-Family (AAF) is a big deal at South, and students have been collecting money and purchasing presents for their families since the beginning of December. Now that Christmas is drawing near, it’s time for SA members to wrap these gifts and have them distributed to the families.
Student Association President Abby Brink ’24 looks forward to this part of winter committees each year and relays how much time and effort goes into it, but also how fun and rewarding it is. It’s nice to tie everything together with the fun wrapping event.
“While the organization and planning of Adopt-a-Family is stressful for the committee chairs and E-Board, so it’s nice to finally wind down by having a fun event wrapping up these presents,” Brink said.
Many classes choose to wrap the gifts they bought themselves, but others hand them off to the Student Association to preserve valuable class time. But after these classes have fundraised and bought gifts for their given families, letting Student Association wrap their gifts is just a small part.
Past AAF chair and Student Association Vice President Addison O’ Keefe ’24 enjoys seeing newer SA members lead this difficult, but rewarding committee. While there are many different components of Adopt-a-Family, wrapping the gifts symbolizes the end of the hectic process and the Christmas season drawing near.
“I love working hard to help families in need, especially around the holidays,” O’Keefe said. “Seeing the parents’ appreciation and thankfulness for the gifts makes the stress all worth it.”
There is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes on that most students and teachers don’t see. While classes bring in money and buy gifts for their chosen families, the members of Student Association organize the families who need gifts, which classes get which family, monitoring how much money each family receives in order to purchase the necessities they asked for, and more.
Student Association Treasurer Lina Baer ’24 oversees the Adopt-A-Family committee and observes first hand all the work and effort that goes into this event over the months of November and December.
“The members work so hard to make sure everything runs smoothly, and that each family has sufficient funds in order to get as many gifts on each child’s wishlist,” Baer said.
