During the holiday months of November and December, and even as early as October 2023, hundreds of students in RHS clubs and organizations gave their time and energy to help those less fortunate through charitable fundraising efforts. Here’s a partial list of fundraisers that they successfully completed before and during the holiday season, either raising money or providing donations for nonprofit charitable organizations.
Bridges Collects Food Items for Homeless Solutions
As the largest provider of homeless services in Morris County, Homeless Solutions runs a number of shelters and a transitional housing facility to aid the local homeless population. The organization publishes a long list of much-needed items that can be donated including hand soap, granola bars, tea bags, pop tarts, plastic cups and paper plates.
The high school’s Bridges Club collected and donated over 200 of these items for use in this organization’s shelters. “We worked with Homeless Solutions last year, and we enjoyed working with them,” club advisor Evan Wilson said. “They are super cooperative and spread a very similar message to Bridges, which is that we aim to help to improve the lives of our neighbors in need.”
Multiple Clubs Collaborate to Provide Donations to Jersey Battered Women’s Service
Jersey Battered Women’s Service (JBWS) is a Morristown-based organization that provides support to anyone in the Morris County area who may be experiencing an abusive situation.
Team Harmony, the Black Student Union, the Gender and Sexuality Alliance and Bring Change to Mind all collaborated between Nov. 20 and Dec. 4 to collect a wide assortment of items for the JBWS Holiday Boutique, enabling JBWS clients to shop for Christmas presents free of charge.
We look to give back to those who need it while building relationships with organizations that broaden our influence beyond RHS.”
— Maria LaPietra, Key Club president
Students Raise Money for Morris Habitat for Humanity
As early as October 2023, RHS students were giving their charitable all to the local chapter of Morris Habitat for Humanity, a national organization which constructs affordable housing for those who may be unable to afford it otherwise.
As a part of RHS’s annual Spirit Week from Oct. 16 to Oct. 20, RHS students raised a whopping $7,000 dollars for the organization, with the grade level making the most donations being awarded additional Spirit Week points.
Key Club Collects Food and Hygienic Products for Nourish NJ and Visions and Pathways
Key Club, whose mission is to provide community service, ran two donation drives between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15. The first was a food drive that helped Nourish NJ provide nutritious meals to those in need. The second was a hygiene drive for Visions and Pathways, a Bridgewater-based organization that helps youth who are homeless, missing and at risk.
With its sizeable membership, Key Club donated many of the much-needed items on the donation lists for both organizations, including hand soap, sugar packets, paper plates, shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste. “Giving back to the community is so important to Key Club,” student club president Maria LaPietra said. “We look to give back to those who need it while building relationships with influential organizations that broaden our influence beyond RHS.”
RHS Students Create and Send Holiday Cards to Local Senior Citizens
Once again, RHS students joined in the annual tradition of creating and delivering hundreds of holiday cards to senior residents of the Sunrise and Brightview Assisted Living facilities in Randolph. The tradition started as an outreach effort to help lift the spirits of local senior living residents who had expressed feeling isolated during the holiday season.
“Not only do I love to see the students’ card creations, but I also love to hear that they look forward to making them and how it has become a tradition here at RHS,” Dean of Students Lindsay Reilly said. “This tradition really brightens the holiday season within our community.”
