MANSFIELD, Ohio – Students and staff at Madison High School are rounding into the final week of the Merry Madison Christmas project.
On Friday, math teacher Tracey Burden received a gift from a student to go directly toward the project.
“One kid brought in four cases of vegetables this morning,” Burden said. “I said, ‘You rock!’”
The same description applies to OCC Leadership, Key Club, Spanish Club, Student Council, the boys basketball team, the Adult Education department, Skills USA and the high school staff. All of those entities are contributing to the adoption of eight families to make a difference this holiday season.
“It’s gone great,” said Holly North, a business management teacher. “We also have contributions from Richland Lumber and Baker’s Collision. That allows us to present gas cards for one family that has to drive back-and-forth to a hospital in Cleveland.
“Andrea Young, a Madison graduate, called from Ontario Hospitality and they’re donating toys and items to help the staff with another family.”
The project is a way for the school to lend a helping hand at a time of year when some Madison-area neighbors need it most.
Key Club advisor Eddie Walker engineers a penny drive that raised around $300. That event is a competition among eighth-period classes. The class that collects the most money per student wins a pizza party.
Likewise, a canned food drive is a contest among first-period classes, with the winning class getting donuts and juice.
“They bring in the canned foods in a pile and we try to sort it,” teacher Brian Hicks said, amid a pile of food. “This is more than we’ve had the last couple of years.”
Vicky Kasberg, the works and family teacher, directed her students in a cookie project. Youngsters baked between 20 and 30 dozen cookies for eight consecutive days.
The cookies, canned goods, toys, and other items will be distributed to families in need next week.
“It’s a huge project,” North said. “There’s a lot of people involved in it, and it takes some time. But we’ve been doing it for a long time. It’s a good community service project.”
