Discover > Magazine > September 2012 > Feature: Spice it up
< September 2012 magazine
SPICE IT UP
In a rut? Shake things up with these twists on some typical service projects and fundraisers.
story by Gianna Stefanelli
Although every Key Club has its own
annual projects and community service
traditions, right now is the
best time of year to plan ahead and
think outside of the box. To start the
year off strong, don’t settle for the
average service staples.
Be bold. Be daring.
Dive right into thousands of fun and
charitable partnerships, events and
missions. With a little brainstorming
and some manpower, anything is
possible. Here are some examples
of inventive but doable projects your Key Club peers use.
Let the games begin.
Organize a school sports competition or Olympics-style
tournament among grade levels. Miami Beach
High School Key Club member Jessica Shevlin successfully
created a dodgeball tournament to raise
money for The Eliminate Project: Kiwanis eliminating
maternal and neonatal tetanus.
“Dodge a ball; save a life” attracted more than 50
participants and raised more than US$1,000 in one
day. Not only is a sporting event or tournament fun
and relatively easy to plan, but it also gets other
school organizations involved. Set up an information
table at the event to advertise your club and its
upcoming events.
Give back through music.
Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School
Key Club member Ariel Brown’s favorite way to
raise funds for a cause is to play music before and
after classes.
“You can either let students vote on a song or make
a request for a dollar,” she says. “While it involves
the entire school, it still allows students to voice their
own opinions on music.”
Fight hunger—and apathy.
Cook up something new. Working at a soup kitchen
is a community-service standard, but many
Key Clubs have also found innovative ways to
feed the hungry. Sarah Thomas, member of the
Steinhart High School Key Club, hosted a “PB&Jathon”
at her school.
“It was a really quick project to plan,” she says.
“Any Key Club can do this. All you need is enough
peanut butter, jelly, bread, plastic bags and people
to make hundreds of sandwiches.” You can also
find ways to donate to an organization that focuses
on ending hunger and poverty, such as the Hunger
Project. To get involved, start an event, volunteer
your club’s time and simply spread the word.
Play for canned food.
Many schools plan an annual canned food drive.
This year, add a new twist with a canned food
scavenger hunt. Christopher Van, member of the
Fullerton Union High School Key Club, helped
members divide into two teams. Each team raced
through their neighborhoods with large plastic
bags and a long list of canned foods. They asked
residents to donate items from their houses.
“Within two hours, what was a fun and competitive
game for us resulted in hundreds of canned-food
donations,” Van says.
Get outdoorsy.
For Zachariah DeGiulio of the Voorhees High
School Key Club, a favorite—and innovative—
community service project is “America’s Grow-
A-Row.” Club members grow and donate fresh
produce to underprivileged residents of urban
areas. By the end of the project, DeGiulio had
helped harvest 18,000 servings of food.
“It’s extremely rewarding to spend an hour at a
farm harvesting squash and other vegetables,”
he says. DeGiulio’s project is different, educational
and great for Key Club members who
aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.
Change your scenery. If you can’t
host an event at your high school,
think about renting out a room at a
business, hotel or conference center.
Party with the elderly.
Key Club member Doug Ream admires how
his school, Lakenheath High School, helps the
elderly by hosting a “senior prom” for area
retirement communities. To do this at your
school, rally your club members and divide
up the responsibilities. Each member or small
group of members should be in charge of a
task, such as providing refreshments, making
personal invitations for the residents or creating
a prom playlist.
“We get about 50 residents together and play
music that ranges from the ’50s to popular music
today,” Ream says. “It’s so much fun to dance
with the residents. And surprisingly, they’ve
taught us so many new dance moves.”
Provide comfort when it’s cold.
Columbus North High School Key Clubber Celina
Hafner suggests providing the area’s homeless
with something to sleep on. While living in
Illinois, she and her classmates crocheted plastic
bags together to create beds for the homeless.
Crocheting
the mats is fairly easy, but make sure you
leave time to do it: Each mat is usually made from
400 to 700 bags, so one can take hours to make.
Haunt the halls.
For Halloween, Illinois-Eastern Iowa District Key
Club member Morgan Murphy transforms University
High School into a haunted house. “This
is our biggest project of the year, and we all have
a lot of fun planning it,” she says.
Parsippany High School Key Clubber Christina
Hum’s club does a similar project. “Halloween
at the High” focuses on providing a safe yet fun
place for the children in their community to trick-or-
treat. For the older kids, the club transforms a
classroom into a scary insane-asylum maze. “The
project is mostly for the community—entertaining
children as well as adults,” Hum says. “This
year our hallways were literally filled.”
Include the entire community.
If you can’t host the event at your high school,
think about renting out a room at a business, hotel
or conference center. Marine Academy of Science
and Technology Key Club member Nicole
Ventrone’s club participates in “Trick-or-Suite,”
where club members rent out a room or two of
a nearby hotel with the help of different clubs,
businesses and organizations. Members decorate
the room for children with disabilities to visit.
“Because the children are unable to trick-or-treat
outside and from door-to-door, we give them the
opportunity to collect candy in a clean, safe, indoor
setting,” Ventrone says. “It’s always so much fun.”
Paint a new picture.
Volunteer your time to a community day care center.
After all, day care centers often need help entertaining
the kids, and the only thing your club
members need to plan is the activity you will do.
Ventrone runs a program with her club called
“Art from the Heart,” where high school students
conduct simple art projects with the children.
“We constantly need to think up new projects that
will be fun for both the teenagers and the kids,”
Ventrone says. “It’s fun to figure out how we can decorate
ties for Father’s Day or make turkey handprints
for Thanksgiving.”
“It’s fun to put on our creative-thinking
caps and decorate
ties for Father’s Day or make turkey handprints
for Thanksgiving.”
Plan at least one season ahead.
Tara Reed, along with her fellow Nutley High
School Key Club of ficers Nina Nieves and Patrick
Koslecki, are planning a “Winter Wonderland
Ball” to raise money for The Eliminate Project.
“Winter might be a season away, but I’m really
excited for this dance,” Reed says. “It’s going to
be our first year planning something like this, and
we are totally up for the challenge. It may even
become an annual Key Club event.” KC
