High School students commit to helping neighbors near and far

Kristen Sodher (far left) from the Franklin Community Center poses with members of Schuylerville's SADD Club. The students are showing off the scarves they crocheted for needy community members.   A volunteer helps a member of Schuylerville's SADD Club learn to crochet.   High School Principal Matt Sickles with members of the Jr. Honor Society who collected donations to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

december 5, 2012

Schuylerville students are once again showing their commitment to helping those in need, helping to provide warmth and comfort to neighbors near and far.

Members of the High School’s SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) Club started an offshoot group called Crochet for Kids Club—an idea that originated with sophomore Victoria Pinto. Her family typically makes donations to and helps out at the Franklin Community Center in Saratoga Springs, but Victoria wanted to do more. So, for the last few months, she’s helped organize the new club, ensuring that her peers not only learned to crochet, but also became skilled enough to make scarves for needy children.

“We’ve had about 20 people involved over the last few months,” Victoria said. “Only a couple knew how to crochet when we started. It’s an easy and fun way to help others.”

This week, Kristen Sodher from the Franklin Community Center stopped in during a SADD meeting to pick up the scarves made by the club members. “This is awesome,” Sodher said after seeing the effort the students put in to crochet and package more than 50 scarves. “We’ll distribute them to at-risk kids who attend an after-school program and also to adults in the community. They’ll be very grateful to benefit from your generosity. Your long-term commitment to this type of project is very impressive.”

“It makes me feel good to do this for our community,” Victoria concluded.

Members of Schuylerville’s Junior Honor Society were looking to help neighbors living a little further away.

“When we saw what happened with Hurricane Sandy, we knew we wanted to help,” said freshman Haley Gronlund, who took a leadership role in organizing fundraisers for the victims of the natural disaster.

Haley was joined by Cheyenne Reuter, Carlee Irish and Jordan Peluso, along with other volunteers, to collect donations during lunch periods at the High School. The students also gave up several evenings to collect money during the recent Drama Club performances. Their efforts resulted in a donation to the Red Cross of more than $750.

“I think we’ll be able to help a lot of people with those funds,” Haley said.

Kudos to the Schuylerville students for their continued generosity!