Spartan Scroll

Photo courtesy of STELLA BAIK

by STEPHANIE TANG

As the holiday break approaches, clubs on campus are preparing to give back to the community by volunteering at many different events and providing service to others.

California Scholarship Federation (CSF) will be joining Montebello and Bell Gardens’ CSF chapters to fundraise through gift wrapping at The Shops in Montebello, today, from 4 to 8 p.m.

Stationed in front of Macy’s Home Store on the upper level, volunteers will be wrapping gifts for free. There will also be donation boxes for those who wish to contribute. All proceeds will go to Dollars for Scholars, which provides local families a free holiday meal.

American Red Cross, Leo’s Club, Key Club, STEMS (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Service) Club, TOMS Club and Youth Community Service (YCS) will be volunteering at Heart of Compassion tomorrow.

Heart of Compassion is located at 600 S. Maple Ave., Montebello. The event will tentatively start at 8 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. Everyone is welcome to volunteer; a sign-up tent will be located near the entrance.

At the event, volunteers help package a variety of groceries which are loaded into cars and vans, distribute gifts to children and teens and later serve a meal for the community.

“Volunteering at the Heart of Compassion gave me a feeling of warmth, seeing others getting their shopping carts full of food with smiles on their faces made it feel like I was giving back to my community; I have so much respect for everyone in the organization because they do what they do from the bottom of their heart, without asking for anything in return,” said junior Samantha Heredia, Key Club member.

Hispanic Awareness Club, Interact and Leo’s Club will participate in Christmas at the Cannon Dec. 24.

Those who volunteer will be assisting the elderly and families by serving a meal and giving gifts to the children. Registration to participate in this event is now closed.

Green Earth Club, Key Club and Plant Posse are hosting a beautification on campus Jan. 3-5 from 8 a.m. to noon.

Volunteers will help paint school buildings, restore soil with nutrients and plant new greenery and flowers around school.

“Every beautification is a new learning experience; sometimes it’s things that we haven’t done, and there’s always a thing or two that we learn from each event,” said senior Anthony Chacon, Plant Posse president.