By ANNALIESE WITMER
As Christmas comes upon us, the spirit of the season is showing. The Bellefonte High’s Key Club took two field trips to local nursing homes during the first week of December and the last week of November to help decorate for Christmas and spend time with the residents. They visited the Oaks in Bellefonte and the Celebration Villa of Nittany Valley in State College.
According to Key Club advisor and English teacher Mrs. Jennifer Walter, this is not the Key Clubs’ first time visiting the Oaks.
“We wanted to help our older generations and bring some joy to their days. We’ve gone for years and they always appreciate it a lot,” Mrs. Walter said.
In both places, Key Club set up their holiday decorations, including decorating several trees throughout the facility and putting other decorations out such as candles, snowmen, and wall hangings, etc. Mrs. Walter believes that this trip positively impacted the community.
“The residents enjoy the festive atmosphere and visitors can also enjoy the decorations. the residents got to see young people from the local schools visit and interact with them,” Mrs. Walter said.
Students earned two hours of community service for visiting the Oaks and about four hours for visiting Celebration Villa. If you want to join Key Club it’s not too late.
“Anyone can join Key Club at any time! Keep watch on announcements for when our next meeting is and join in. We do lots of fun stuff all year round.”
Key Club does much more than just visit the local nursing homes. They do a variety of activities to help our local community and the people in it.
“We do charitable fundraisers to donate to Unicef, food banks, and leukemia and lymphoma society. We also visit elementary schools to help with various activities like holiday workshops, dances, and carnivals. Our year culminates with a weekend-long convention with training, service projects, and lots of fun.”
Currently, the Key Club is holding a Toys for Tots fundraiser. You can find boxes to donate toys throughout the building.
If anyone is interested in joining Key Club, you can reach out to Mrs. Walter at [email protected].
