A great way to get in the holiday spirit and end the year off on a high note is volunteering and helping those less fortunate. There are many different ways to do this, for example, by donating goods or services. There are various local volunteering opportunities near the school, such as the CHiPS soup kitchen. A mere 5-minute walk from school, it’s accessible to us as students and is a large part of the community. They have a food pantry and offer meals to the community. One easy thing that everyone could do is collect unused wrapped plastic utensils from their homes – the kind you might have leftover from a take-out order. Single-use products are a vital part of CHiPS’s operation, as they are given out with every meal provided. Swing by CHiPS after school and drop off your extra utensils! Additionally, you might also schedule a day to set up a booth outside CHiPS with friends and family to give out a homemade or store-bought sweet treat. You can find the sign-up link for this below. 

Another good place to give back is at St. John’s Bread and Life. While St. John’s is a little farther, it’s accessible by trains in Atlantic Terminal and has many different options for volunteers. Some of the activities that volunteers can take part in are pantry, bag packing, stocking food items, preparing produce and protein bags, and many others. You can sign up online (link below) as an individual or as a group, which is a great thing to do with friends. 

We at The West Wing urge you and your friends to volunteer and spread the holiday spirit to all!

CHiPS: https://www.chipsonline.org/drives-and-in-kind-donations-1 

St. John’s Bread and Life: https://www.breadandlife.org/get-involved/volunteer/