Key Club collects gifts for a family through Hillcrest Transitional Housing Program.

For many students at LHS, this time of year is devoted to shopping, eating and spending time with family. The holiday season is a time of receiving gifts but, more importantly, it is a time for giving.

The Hillcrest Transitional Housing Program is for homeless families trying to get back on their feet. This program gives the families a place to live to help them recover. With not a lot of money to spare, buying their children presents is the last thing on these families’ minds.

That is where organizations like LHS’s Key Club come in. Hillcrest reaches out to the community, asking for volunteers to sponsor a family by purchasing their presents. The families make lists of their wants and needs and the lists are given out to the organizations who are eager to help.

“Needs are things like clothing, shoes and school supplies. Wants are fun things like toys, games and gift cards,” club sponsor Erin Garvey said. “Without our help, these families would not get presents for Christmas. They are not in the families’ budget.”

The students who are buying the presents only know the age and gender of the person they are buying for. The family that Key Club has adopted includes a single mother with a 19-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.

“We pick an objects to go with what the kids of the family want,” sophomore Dakote Brizendine said. “We go out and buy it and they will receive it on Christmas. ”

After each member has bought a gift or two, the family ends up with a more joyful Christmas experience.

“The most important part of the holiday season is giving to others,” freshman Sarah Parrot said. “It’s a win-win situation because you can know that you have helped someone and they get the gift of having a better Christmas.”

Members of Key Club are eager to help others, especially during the holiday season when these families need the most.

“It’s something that everyone is usually pretty excited to do, the items go pretty quickly and we are always able to bring in a lot,” senior Caroline Abbot said.

Sometimes what may seem like the simplest of gifts can make a huge difference.

“I had a dad request pink cowboy boots for his seven-year-old daughter.  He said that was the only thing she really wanted and she talked about it all the time,” Garvey said. “Key Club got her the cowboy boots.  When the dad saw the boots, he started crying and was so thankful.  Later, in a thank you note, he wrote that his daughter loved the boots so much she wouldn’t even take them off to sleep.”

It is eye-opening for LHS students to see how many local, homeless families are in need.

“It’s  good for us to get experience and to know how families are because we’re not homeless, it helps us realize how much people in these situations are in need,” junior Abigail Jones said.