The National Honors Society (NHS) is a worldwide organization of extraordinary high school students who excel academically, demonstrate leadership skills, and are actively involved in helping their communities.
Every year, NHS students are expected to create a service project, whether it is alone or in a group, to show that they are giving back to the community and making an impact overall. Currently, seniors Henry Dzuong, Kevin Hoang, Ilyes Ouldsaada, and Satvir Singh have been thriving with their Toy Drive project.
The idea was originally thought of by Ouldsaada; however, their group as a whole wanted to brainstorm something that would be fun and different and would help out the community. “We decided that we wanted to do something that was more fun rather than just something that would tire us out,“ stated Singh. He also mentioned that “we just wanted to do something that’s not about writing, just completely relaxing.” While their main focus is to collect toys, there have been clothes donated as well.
The toy drive is a way to give back to the community by getting donations and giving the toys to children who do not have them or “can’t get those toys due to financial constraints,” Hoang shared.
So far, their goal was to collect 100 toys, but they now have over 300 toys donated. Oulsaada noted, “We intend to collect somewhere between 500-1000, but this range gets higher as we collect more items.”
These toys and clothes will go to local hospitals, orphanages, early-learning centers, and anywhere else where children need them.
Dzuong’s personal goal is to “to inspire others to support their communities in any way they can. I hope to raise awareness towards the idea of giving back, especially since a large percentage of toys get thrown away eventually.”
Where can you find the donation boxes? They are going door-to-door to get people to donate, but “you can find them at the main offices of Salemwood, Forestdale, Malden High School, [and] Linden,” concluded Hoang.
