Imagine 11 carts full of items, a bill reaching $4,500 and a check-out time of almost 60 minutes.
\nThat was the exact situation confronted by Altoona Wal-Mart cashier Joan Yon on Dec. 8 when several students from Bellwood-Antis\u2019 junior class showed up.
\nThe students were part of the entire junior class who appropriately dubbed themselves \u201cThe B-A Blue Angels R Us\u201d \u2013 a group dedicated to bringing 10 deserving families a Christmas they will never forget.
\n\u201cWe really wanted to try to teach the kids a better sense of what community service is all about,\u201d said Crystal Himes, junior achievement teacher at Bellwood-Antis, who, along with Andrea Brant, economics\/POD teacher, organized this first-time project. \u201cThe students are really going to learn how important it is to care for our fellow man and help them learn how good it feels when they do something good for someone.\u201d
\nAccording to Himes, the goal of the Blue Angels is to provide a merry Christmas to ten less-fortunate families in the Bellwood and Tyrone communities. Himes said local churches provided the names of five of the families while the other five was provided by a social services agency.
\n\u201cEverything is in strict confidence,\u201d said Himes. \u201cThe only people who know who these families are myself and the people who provided me with the names. No one else will know.\u201d
\nHimes said both the churches and the social service agency provided her with a list of needs from each family. These lists included items from the expected, like toys and food items, to the not-so-popular Christmas gifts, such as heating oil and car repairs.
\n\u201cWe really wanted to make sure these families got what they needed,\u201d said Himes. \u201cOne little girl actually requested cereal and juice. We just want to make sure these families receive a Christmas like they deserve \u2013 one like most of us will have.\u201d
\nEach student was required to pull a single tag that was marked with the sex of a child and a gift item that would total no more than $10. The student was then asked to purchase this item as a donation for the program.
\nAlso, the students were required to participate in monthly \u201cspecial\u201d projects, such as filling a laundry basket with toiletries for each family and weekend non-perishable food drives.
\n\u201cWe had a lot of good ideas and the kids seemed to respond well,\u201d said Himes. \u201cThey enjoyed gathering these items because they knew it was going to bring smiles to a family\u2019s faces on Christmas morning.\u201d
\nHimes said in addition to the food, clothing, toys and others items gathered by the students, local grocery stores also donated food certificates that will allow each family to purchase food for their Christmas dinner.
\n\u201cWe also will provide each family with a voucher that will allow them to see a movie,\u201d said Himes. \u201cWe brainstormed as to what we could provide for an entire family and thought giving them movie tickets would be a great idea.\u201d
\nHimes said although each student was asked to purchase a gift for under $10, most of the additional money came through donations. She said one person made a $1,500 anonymous donation.
\nThe students, totaling 111 total, worked all day on Thursday to wrap the gifts. They will be delivered by Himes next week.
\n\u201cWe really have a chance to help people that are less fortunate than most of us are,\u201d said 16-year-old Shawn Weiand, a student working on the project. \u201cI guess my favorite part of this whole project was choosing which gifts I would buy. Knowing that my efforts are enough to make a young child happy on Christmas is fulfilling for more. I hope we as a community can continue to help the families in the area.\u201d
\nSeventeen-year-old Ben Kliner echoed Weiand\u2019s thoughts.
\n\u201cThis project gave me a good feeling because I had the opportunity to give back to this wonderful community,\u201d said Kliner. \u201cThis area has given so much to me, it\u2019s the least I could do.\u201d
\nAccording to Himes, this year\u2019s project was so well received by the students \u2013 and she expects the same satisfaction from the receiving families \u2013 that plans are already in the works for next year\u2019s project.
\n\u201cWe want people to see what we\u2019re doing and maybe come up with some projects on their own,\u201d said Himes. \u201cPeople need to understand how important it is for others if they could just give two or three or four hours out of each month to help someone else.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a feeling unlike any other in the world and happy to be a part of that with the great students we have worked with this year in Bellwood.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imagine 11 carts full of items, a bill reaching $4,500 and a check-out time of almost 60 minutes. That was the exact situation confronted by Altoona Wal-Mart cashier Joan Yon on Dec. 8 when several students from Bellwood-Antis\u2019 junior class showed up. The students were part of the entire junior class who appropriately dubbed themselves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47666\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}