For many, the holiday season is stressful and demanding. Fortunately in TO, families in need of help can turn to Project Concern for needed support. In Nov. 2023, Project Concern didn’t fail to provide a heartwarming display of unity and generosity. Helping families in need, Project Concern gives a sense of safety and comfort to families that are struggling. Not only supplying them with food, the organization also distributes gift cards to families so they can pick gifts for their kids during the holidays.
Project Concern, a club on campus run by Ms. Elieen Moore for years, focuses on collecting materials and raising awareness for less fortunate Lancers. Joined together by this project, classrooms across campus join hands in collecting cans of food and other essential materials. Their initiative aimed to support students in need of school supplies by gathering pencils, pens, paper and notebooks, establishing a sense of community and shared responsibility among students and faculty.
“We recognized a need on the Thousand Oaks High School campus,” Moore said.
Starting in the fall, for Thanksgiving, Project Concern collects donated school supplies from second-period classes, distributing them throughout the year to students with less access to materials. With the same process as the school supply drive, the Thanksgiving food drive collects donations. Having had a successful amount in 2022, Project Concern was able to gather almost the same amount this year, gathering 400 food supplies and $50 in cash, which was used for gift cards given out to families.
This year, with help from ASB, Project Concern can help with the food drive by collecting, counting and distributing all of the materials gathered. With competition between all the second-period classes, the winner from 2022-2023’s school year, Moore’s class, was rewarded with a pizza party for collecting the most materials.
“It felt nice giving back to the community,” sophomore Niki Krupnick said.
As a member of ASB, Krupnick has been helping with Project Concern since her freshman year. Whether it was collecting bags from classrooms or sorting through donations, Krupnick was glad to help the community. Collecting materials to give to families puts smiles on ASB’s faces, knowing that their efforts are making a difference. The donated items ranged from canned goods to boxes of stuffing, reflecting the thoughtful consideration of every participant throughout each collection.
However, it couldn’t have been possible without the help from other associations. On behalf of Adelante Comunidad Latina, an organization providing support to the Latina community, TO collects names of students whose families need help with putting Thanksgiving dinner on the table. In return, those families receive invitations to an Adelante Thanksgiving food drive held at a neighborhood school. Adelante joined TO, and families attending the free marketplace the Saturday before Thanksgiving were allowed to select from TO’s contributions as well as items obtained through grants and donations to Adelante. This allowed them a greater variety of foods as well as access to perishables such as milk, eggs, cheese and meat.
Those same families receive entrance tickets to a church toy fair with the Adelante Gift Bazaar for Christmas. Their goal, similar to Project Concern, is to help the members of the community in need of support and educate students about the importance of acts of kindness and generosity. This past Thanksgiving emphasized each classroom’s efforts in making a difference, collecting at least two bags of canned goods from each class, and emphasizing the power of collective action to create a positive change. Project Concern expressed gratitude for the overwhelming support and strives to continue organizing many more initiatives to support the Thousand Oaks community.