Huntington High School’s Key Club continued its long tradition of collaborating with the Huntington Kiwanis Club to make the holidays brighter for dozens of local children.
More than four dozen Huntington Key Club members joined their counterparts from Half Hollow Hills East and Young Leaders, a local youth development organization to help about 50 lucky kids shop for winter clothes at Target. Huntington Kiwanis supported the initiative financially and officials from that group were also on hand.
The Huntington Key Club members wrapped the gifts following the Target shopping tour.
Following the shopping tour, the group wrapped the gifts, picked out toys, played games together, sang carols and generally enjoyed a great time.
“It is one of our favorite events of the year and truly embodies the Christmas spirit within the club,” said junior Molly Kessler. “The Key Clubbers who participated in the event worked so hard to make sure these children have something to look forward to on Christmas Day and we commend them for that.”
“Key Club is the oldest and largest service program for high school students in the world,” according to the national organization’s website. “It has more than 270,000 members in over 5,000 clubs in 38 countries.” Key Club is a branch of Kiwanis International.
Huntington’s Key Club membership totals about160 this year. They attend weekly meetings on Thursday afternoon in the School Heritage Museum. English teachers Kelly Krycinski and Gina Collica are the group’s longtime faculty advisors.
The organization’s executive board consists of President Nicholas Haupt, Vice President Molly Kessler, secretaries Julia Segal and Livia D’Anna, Treasurer Hannah Avidor, publicists Julia Giles and Josie Fasolino, attendance officer Ryan Hoffmann and administrative assistants Alexa Rind, Diya Rai-Gersappe, Emily Cheshire, Ethan McGuinness, Julie Rogel, Kate Sheran, Katie Bonilla, Rebecca Hoffmann and Nick Rowley.
The Target Tour left the Huntington High School Key Club members feeling energized. “I thought that it was, as always, an amazing event,” Ms. Giles said. “Getting the opportunity to help those who are less fortunate is truly a humbling experience that I was lucky to be a part of.”