The holidays are in full swing and with them comes the traditional groups of students coming together to help others. This helping season forces the question, does LHS give back to the community enough during the holidays?

Only two members of the Bell Staff voted “yes” while 20 said “no.” There is no doubt that LHS does do community service. Clubs such as Key Club, StuCo, Breakfast Club and many others help out during the holidays. But the success of projects like Adopt-a-Family, canned food drives and clothing drives depend on the entire student body. Most of the staff agreed we need more participation to get better results.

People in our community are in need. Sometimes, it’s even the person sitting next to you in class who needs the most. One teacher feels LHS does give back, but the students do not give back enough.

Lower participation sometimes leads to friendly competition. For the canned food drive the winning class received a pizza party. The staff discussed that the money used for the pizza party could have been added to the drive. Would students bring anything for the drive if there weren’t competitions? Do the competitions turn our giving into selfishness?

Another teacher mentioned that they aren’t very aware of our school giving back to our community. With this in mind, it also shows that projects such as the canned food drive should be promoted more to students and teachers. Clothing drives seem rushed and there isn’t enough time to bring in as many items. Groups in charge of the giving need to communicate better and longer.

On the other hand, the staff believes our school is doing a really good thing when it offers so many projects for students to be involved in. And the canned food drive still reached it’s goal, which will help so many families. This is a good thing! With many projects to do there will always be a positive outcome whether or not it was successful.

Overall, The Bell staff leaned toward the no side saying that our school doesn’t give back enough for charity events. Next time when there is an opportunity to give back, remember the outcome depends on your participation.