Walton High School Volunteers

Four years ago, six students joined together to provide service to the community. Today this group has grown to include more than 175 student volunteers. Each week these students volunteer their time—providing service to the homeless, area children and the elderly.

Each Tuesday and Thursday, a designated group of high school volunteers visit a nearby elementary school where they act as role models and mentors for the children. The volunteers lead reading programs, assist students with homework, provide art projects and play games with the children. Volunteers also provide enrichment activities for the children such as a magic show, a mobile zoo and an electric car demonstration. Each student volunteers bi-weekly, donating at least two hours a week.

Once a month, volunteers prepare 200 brown bag lunches for day workers at a homeless shelter in the area. Many of the student volunteers take their lunch break from their weekend jobs to help prepare the meals. Every two weeks, a group of students visit a local nursing home where they care for and socialize with elderly residents.

Over the past four years during the Christmas season, volunteers have conducted a small-item drive for children. In addition, they have prepared 400 favor bags for homeless children and donated 200 books for needy children. The students also sponsored a drive in which they collected used eyeglasses and hearing aids for the less fortunate, helped to construct a home for Habitat for Humanity and collected more than $3,000 in entertainment items for a shelter for abused teens.

This student-run organization receives an average annual budget of $5,000 from the Parent Teachers Association as well as donations from their local partners in education, Krogers Grocery Store and The Riverside Bank.