The Holiday Hope Chest is a program that delivers boxes full of toys and necessary items to children in need in our community.

For some children this might be the only gift they receive, so the boxes are packed with a lot of essential items for the upcoming winter months as well as toys and hygiene supplies. This year, the sixth grade partnered with The Boys and Girls Club of Allentown to reach their request of 170 boxes. With your help, we successfully reached our goal! 

In the beginning of November, Mrs. Turcotte introduced the program to me and the rest of the sixth grade. We immediately got to work on making posters, recording videos to spread the word, wrapping boxes, filling boxes, collecting donations, and writing thank-you letters. Over the month of November we had filled tons and tons of boxes but we were still a few items short. A few nights before we were supposed to deliver the boxes, me and my dad had to make a nighttime trip to Dollar Tree to pick up the last 30 deodorants and 12 games that we needed to reach our goal. I felt a little bit odd carrying bags full of deodorants, but it was worth it to make sure we had enough items to fill our final boxes.

When we had finally, officially reached our goal, the sixth graders made an assembly line to transport the boxes into the van. The assembly line requires a lot of teamwork to make sure the boxes make it to the van safely. My friend, who was right next to me, was sprinting across a gap in the line while singing Christmas carols! We were all infused with a frantic energy to get the boxes into the van. We started playing a sort of “whisper down the alley” game, where you would say one word to describe the box being passed down the line, and then you would tell that word to the person that you were passing to. Everybody that was helping out was having a great time. We all had to work in synchronization to reach our final goal. 

Then when the day came to deliver the boxes, we all had fun holiday accessories on. We got on a bus that would take us to The Boys and Girls Club of Allentown. When we got there, we all helped out to move the boxes into the building. Inside the building, we had to squeeze through the mob of fellow students to make our way to where we would drop our load. The reason it was so crowded was because there was only a narrow hallway that we were supposed to put the boxes in. We were packed in like sardines in a can! Then after fighting your way inside, you had to shimmy back outside again to get another load of boxes. Although this wasn’t as much fun as our initial assembly line, it got the job done and we successfully delivered the donations to the recipients. After we had finally moved all the boxes inside, we took a tour of The Boys and Girls Club of Allentown to see more of the space that the recipients of our boxes spend time in after school.

Overall, I loved the Holiday Hope Chest experience. Not only did I enjoy helping out people in need, the program has really built a sense of compassion and teamwork in the entire sixth grade. We all relied on each other to make our goal of 170 boxes. We all had a job that was essential to the success of the program. It also made me feel great to know that I was bringing others joy around the holiday season. Next year, I will help out again and I hope you will donate!