Thanksgiving Day is not only a holiday to spend time with friends and family, it is also a day to give back to those in need. Many of the school’s clubs and organizations gather to put food baskets together.

This event is held yearly for one reason.

“We have families in our community that won’t be able to have a good meal on Thanksgiving Day, so this is where we step up as leaders of our community to assist families have a good Thanksgiving,” Leadership Del Valle sponsor Chris Lopez said.

Aware, Cheerleaders, Chinese Club, Choir, Class of 2022, Debate, DECA, FBLA, FCCLA, JROTC, Law Enforcement, Math Club, National Chinese Honor Society (NCHS), National English Honor Society (NEHS), NHS, PAC, and Spanish Honor Society participated in the drive. Each club put in their part to provide the community with food baskets.

“We try to collect 30 or more. Thirty is about the average number of clubs and organizations we have, but we can always get at least more than the one per club, that is something awesome for our families in need,” Lopez said.

One club that made more than one basket both now and last year, happens to be the National Chinese Honor Society (NCHS).

“We made two baskets,” Chinese NHS sponsor Jing Li said. “ We made three baskets last year during virtual learning, there’s some students that donated a lot of things. I really appreciate it because I didn’t expect to make three baskets from virtual learning because we didn’t meet each other. We just sent through the virtual meetings for Google Classroom that I will drive my car outside the school and they will come to drop off their items.”

Some who aren’t involved in clubs volunteer to help.

“Some students, like Paulina, helped me look for items for the different baskets. It takes a while and I really appreciate students who spend their time after school helping me to differentiate the items in different baskets,” Li said. 

Because of the number of baskets being made, the process may require plenty of preparation.

“It’s not so much preparation but it’s a lot of collaborative work from all our clubs and organizations. If everybody puts a basket together then we’re in turn able to provide that to those families,” Lopez said.

Plenty of time is necessary in order to provide baskets efficiently.

“It takes us two weeks to get everything because students forget. Students bring more after weekends. It usually takes one to two weeks for us to finish the baskets,” Li said. “Sometimes we need a little bit more time. I think the only thing we need to do better is to start a bit earlier like at the end of October and keep reminding students so they bring more items and more students can participate, I think that’s what I want to do next year.”

Although the task is tough, the commitment is worth it.

  “This is what Del Valle is all about, giving back to our community, so when we have clubs and organizations that participate in something like this, as a family ourselves we’re giving back to those in need,” Lopez said. “The one thing we look forward to is hopefully making those families enjoy time together and enjoy a meal when we know that unfortunately they can’t because of certain circumstances.”

The people in the community that are being helped are not the only ones on the receiving end.

“It gives some students community hours, but it’s more than that, it gives us the feeling like we can do something for the community,” Li said. “I think the meaning of this project is worth a lot.”