By Megan Guerrero & Abigail Kim

As the year draws to a close, the spirit of giving becomes more prominent, especially during the challenging winter season. At Granada Hills Charter (GHC), students have found several ways to give back to their communities, whether that’s through donating clothing or food to different homeless shelters or providing emotional support to those who need it.

The Group Gratitude Club, led by co-presidents junior Hayden Chow and senior Justin Jose, has dedicated itself to making a positive impact on the Los Angeles homeless population. The club not only provides support to those facing financial struggles but also educates and raises awareness about the homelessness crisis. Through initiatives such as clothing drives, and letter-writing events, they actively engage in community service.

“Group Gratitude is partnering with [the] local homeless shelter Hope of the Valley, which aims to help anyone who is struggling financially,” Jose said. “It’s linked with a lot of different problems like domestic violence and substance abuse. The idea of the club is to help anyone who needs help. We want to avoid any of those further issues.”

Recently, the club organized a clothing drive for Hope of the Valley, lasting from October 26 to November 11, focusing on collecting essential winter items such as blankets and beanies.

“The shelter is asking for items to keep warm during winter, so we are asking for new socks and underwear, any type of blankets, and beanies in good condition,” Jose said. “The idea of the drive is to be an encouragement to the shelter during the winter time.”

Group Gratitude also hosted a letter-writing event on November 5, in which they collected 300 letters that Hope of the Valley will distribute to homeless people.

The Associated Student Body (ASB) also supports its community by doing a yearly drive directed to a community in need. This year, they directed their efforts towards those lacking resources for personal hygiene.

The hygiene drive was held in the quad during lunch from October 30 to November 9, collecting everything from toothbrushes to shampoo and soap. The products collected were donated to Youth Emerging Stronger, a youth homeless organization that offers runaway homeless youth safety, stability, housing, as well as other resources. ASB collected almost 1,300 hygiene products.

“Youth Emerging Stronger seeks to help and support kids in need,” junior ASB president Brooke Miller said. “Especially since it’s near the holiday season, they told us it would be beneficial to the kids who need hygiene products because hygiene is extremely valuable.”

Student Ambassadors Club also aims to promote community engagement among students interested in volunteering. The club collaborates with local chambers of commerce, participating in events such as street fairs, luncheons, and parades. This offers students opportunities for both volunteering and building networks.

Student Ambassadors Club held a Halloween Candy Drive from October 16 to October 31. In total, they were able to donate 15 bags of candy to the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission, a local organization that supports homeless families by providing shelter, necessities, and overall guidance to them.

“I wanted to hold the drive so that we could give people who were interested in the opportunity to get volunteer hours while supporting a good cause,” senior Sydney Truong, president of Student Ambassadors, said.

The clubs on campus all have one thing in common, attempting to help people in need. As the holiday season approaches, countless families struggle to afford to give gifts to their children. Here at GHC, our Celebration Nation Youth Club seeks to make change through a donation drive to bring Christmas joy to these children.

The club held a Christmas toy drive to provide gifts for children of underpaid farm workers and other underprivileged children from November 20 to December 4.

The toys will be donated to the Celebration Nation Foundation and passed out to children during one of their community holiday events in December. Members of the club themselves also plan to pass out the gifts to the children.

COLLECTED GOODS: ASB collected almost 1,300 hygiene products in total.

The club works with the Celebration Nation Foundation to support migrant farm workers, who are largely composed of indigenous-Latino communities by holding various volunteering events for youth that can give back to those communities.

“I believe farm workers are essentially the backbone of this country, providing the food we can continue to have on our tables every day,” senior and president Breanna Carcamo said. “They work hard, but often can barely support their own families at low pay, which is why we decided to start this club. We want to help others understand why it’s so important to give back to those who basically feed us.”

Overall, multiple student clubs and organizations here at GHC gave back to our communities this season through countless donation drives and volunteering events, to support those who are less fortunate. But these drives would not be successful without the generous GHC community.