December is the month of giving! Earlier this month the Octagon club teamed up with the Love, Annaleigh foundation for the annual Gingerbread House Party. Octagon members volunteered to help set up and make gingerbread houses with little kids. Once Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived to FTHS the party truly began. Volunteers were handing out supplies, helping to assemble the gingerbread houses, and distributing candy. At the end of the night the judges chose the best gingerbread houses and awarded the kids prizes. The volunteers also competed and the lucky winner of the thirteen and older category was Danielle Blitzer and company. The event was very successful and raised a lot of money to be donated to St. Peter’s NICU and PICU.

Also, the Octagon Club helped plan and organize the annual food drive for FTHS. Each homeroom was given a box to fill with donations over the course of a month. Once the cans were collected and counted, the homeroom with the most cans was Mrs. Galinski’s homeroom. During an interview with Mrs. Galinski she explained, “ Our homeroom decided to apply George Washington’s sneak attack tactic at the Battle of Trenton to the food drive.” In order to win the food drive Mrs. Galinski’s students waited till the last day to bring in the majority of their canned goods. By using George Washington’s sneak attack method Mrs. Galinki’s homeroom fooled everyone by making them think they only had a few cans but the next day they managed to bring in thousands. One student in particular, Tierney Egan had the greatest contribution to the food drive. Tierney Egan and her family willingly donated an estimated 4,000 canned goods. Her donation helped Mrs. Galinski’s homeroom achieve their win. Overall, with the Octagon Club’s assistance, FTHS managed to collect thousands of cans to be donated for the food drive.

In addition, Octagon Club members took part in the Habitat for Humanity gift wrapping fundraiser throughout December. Habitat for Humanity set up a kiosk for present wrapping at Monmouth Mall in order to raise money for their projects. Last weekend, Octagon members volunteered for 12 hour hours wrapping gifts nonstop from 10am to 10pm. The dedication and time that the Octagon volunteers put into events like this is heart warming. While gift wrapping, members, Ryan Smith and Will Meyers, said, “ Although we weren’t the best wrappers, we quickly learned and helped spread some Christmas joy!” The Octagon members truly enjoy volunteering and they are willing to do what ever they can to help their community.