The fall months following September are accompanied by a season of giving, and Centennial clubs and students are chipping in to make a difference for those in need. The CHS Horizon Club and Salvation Army have organized drives to collect various items to be distributed to those without certain luxuries for the fall and winter months.

October 17 through 26, Centennial students participated in a shoe-drive, sponsored by Horizon Club. CHS students were encouraged to bring in any type of old shoes, even just one shoe not part of a pair. Horizon club set up four boxes in the main entrance of the school. The boxes were for each grade level to put their shoes in. Horizon club then tabulated the number of shoes each class brought in and they found that: seniors had brought in 67 pairs, juniors 66, freshman 51, and sophomores 48. This made for a grand total of 232 shoes for those in need. The only incentive to donate was “bragging rights.” Centennial Counselor and Horizon Club advisor, Ellen Mauser stated, “As someone new to our community, I was very impressed with the way Centennial students took on this challenge simply because it was an opportunity to help and serve others.”

Horizon Clubs’ efforts are not the only contributions in getting shoes to people in need. Soles for Souls is an organization that partners with groups like Horizon Club, among others to collect the shoes. Through shoe-drives like this one at CHS, Soles for Souls have been able to deliver over 16 million pairs of shoes to people in need. In response to being asked if the drive was successful, Mauser stated, “Yes! We only hosted the drive for 1 week and we were still able to collect 232 pairs of shoes.”

Even though the opportunity to donate shoes has passed, there are still other drives running at Centennial that are ready for donations. The Centennial Salvation Army is currently holding a food drive to collect canned goods in preparation for Thanksgiving. The food goods will be donated to the Salvation Army Headquarters and then distributed throughout the community to families in need.
Centennial Salvation Army Co-President, Grace Cha, explained that donated goods can include “ any non-perishable food items” and “household products.” This would include canned, boxed, or bagged non-perishable foods, and paper products or utensils. Thanksgiving-related items would include, but are not restricted to, items such as canned green beans, cranberry sauce, mashed potato mix, cornbread mix, and Thanksgiving-related utensils.”

Last year, the food drive collected over 1,000 items that were donated to the Salvation Army; however, this is the first year that the food drive is being facilitated by the CSA. “We hope to have even greater turnout and hope the rest of the school is as excited to participate as we are!” Cha said.