“Lighten your backpack, donate you supplies!…End this year by making sure needy students start next year with tools to succeed!” reads a flyer sponsoring National Honor Society’s (NHS) Supply Drive that will be lasting through the end of Spring Finals.

With bins located at building entrances, the list of supplies students can donate is quite grand. “Notebooks, binders, pens, and pencils are only some of the objects that students may donate,” said Academic Advisor Mrs. Valerie Charat. “If they are in bad condition or will not hold up, then do not donate them. Gently used SUPPLIES that students are done with, however, would work.”

“NHS member Senior Rahel Hintza conjured the concept for the drive after noticing last year that the halls were littered with schools SUPPLIES students were just dumping,” continued Mrs. Charat. “I do not believe we have done a drive similar to this in the past, but it would not surprise me if we have. This is my first year, and if it goes well, as I hope it will, I would HOPE it would become a tradition for NHS in the years to come. I know that the faculty response has been really positive, and given how the NHS Book Drive went, it will probably go well. We’ll see how it goes.”

Mrs. Charat then went on to explain that after the idea for the drive was finalized, several Catholic schools that typically serve low income populations were identified and presented as a list to the administration, who then selected Our Lady of Sacred Heart’s Preschool, Elementary, and Middle Schools’ students to be the beneficiaries of the drive’s proceeds.

“Our Lady of Sacred Heart is a lot of families that have a lot of love but that do not have a lot of other things,” added AP American Government teacher Mr. Matt Baier, who himself taught Religion and Social Studies to Junior High students at the aforementioned facility. “They are willing to make a lot of sacrifices to do what they think is best for their kids. Unfortunately, a lot don’t have a lot of money, so a lot of kids don’t pay full tuition. The school still accepts them regardless and just tries to make it work. They are really good kids, and they try really hard, so I think this drive is great. Anything we can do to help them is good. I love it there, and I wish we could do more things to help them.”