When the final tally came in, members of the Bridges Club were delighted to learn that they had hosted one of the most successful donation drives in the history of community service club, with all collected items being delivered to the Homeless Solutions center in Morristown, just in time for Thanksgiving.

For the drive, club members collected a variety of essentials, including a whopping 1,550 paper plates, 480 coffee cups, 2,100 plastic utensils, 168 rolls of toilet paper and more. The sizeable tally showed this to be one of the most successful donations drives in the history of the club.

“It was beyond heartwarming to see how many people donated items for our first Homeless Solutions drive,” Bridges president Samantha Bachenheimer said. “The Bridges board could not have been happier to witness these large contributions; knowing that students wanted to help others and make a positive impact made us feel closer to our school community.”

To decide what to collect for donations, club members referred to the list of most needed items on the Homeless Solutions website. In addition to those items listed above, other collected items included paper towels, plastic cups and utensils and soap. When the drive ended, all donated items were transported to the homeless center on Nov. 23, the day before Thanksgiving.

“Even the smallest donation has the power to help someone,” Bachenheimer said. “As we spread the word about this drive, I believe we were able to transmit this message, which motivated people to donate and get involved.”

No sooner did last month’s donation drive end than Bridges launched the latest community service project for the month of December. At press time, club members were busy writing and collecting cheerful holiday cards, which they planned to deliver to residents of the Brightview and Sunrise assisted living facilities in time for the holidays.

Editor’s note: For information on how to donate to Homeless Solutions, go to https://homelesssolutions.org.