Christmas Card Project
Since August, the club I founded at my high school, the Cultural Diversity Club, had been working on a Christmas Card project for the nonprofit organization Candlelighters of Brevard in Brevard County, FL. I personally have been working with them for over a year now and was delighted to participate in another project with them, this time involving the help of other wonderful people!
About the Club
At Edgewood Jr/Sr High School, the Cultural Diversity Club celebrates cultures from all around the world through music, food, traditions, games, and more. As the representatives of diversity at the school, we all wanted to do more to learn about all the kinds of people in our community instead of just through research; therefore, we decided to participate in a large-scale project with Candlelighters to reach out to these such people.
Card Project
In the summer of 2021, I worked with Executive Director Natasha Duran and other staff of Candlelighters of Brevard to plan this project ahead of time and make sure it began as soon as our first meeting, and sure enough, it was a hit. In fact, at my school, every student must earn at least 25 hours of unpaid service per year to have 100 by the end of their high school career; furthermore, students are always looking for service-learning opportunities that they connect with. So it was decided that the students would each make at least one festive Christmas card with well-thought-out art and a kind message for the nonprofit organization's Christmas event a few weeks ago.
In the end, we were able to create over 175 beautifully made cards as part of a Christmas present for children with cancer at the Candlelighters of Brevard Christmas event. Everyone involved in the club loved making the cards and meeting Mrs. Duran herself as a guest speaker, resulting in every student making more than one card. Even after it was over, students asked the other club officers and me how they could participate in a card-making activity with Candlelighters! Everyone was so proud of our project's progress and is looking forward to another event soon, with even more participants.
Visit the Candlelighters of Brevard website: https://candlelightersofbrevard.org