by Austin Temple
Founded in 1993, the Hudson Holiday Coalition grants underprivileged families, including children, the ability to receive donations in the form of gifts during the holidays.
After a 2 year hiatus, Hudson High School has become part of the Hudson Holiday Coalition again.
When the coalition had first started, school nurses took the job of trying to find families who were less fortunate or were having trouble at home. They would then take donations from countless organizations, businesses and families. But due to recent budget cuts, the nurses could not run it anymore.
Then two years ago, DJ Collins from Hudson Appliance stepped up to take the job of running the organization.
From early November to Christmas Eve, Collins worked on helping families find sponsors. This means finding the people that will be able to donate and to meet the specifications of what the family is looking for on Christmas.
In early December, homeroom teachers were accepting donations from students to raise enough money to sponsor a child or family, which was around $60. Each teacher received a list of items that were specific to what the child(ren) wanted for Christmas.
The money would then go to the purchasing of gifts, and even some classrooms had students that volunteered to do so. Popular gifts were clothes themed around Disney, Star Wars and cartoons. In addition, some children wanted gift cards, instruments, board games, puzzles, arts and crafts, and video games.
History teacher Mary Beth Cashman has been a part of it for 7 years with the help of Patty Noyes. But after Noyes left, the school did not participate. Cashman sought to bring it back last year but had missed the deadline for it. Eager to start it back up again, she knew who could help her with the process. “I remembered earlier this year and knew a good group of students to sort of help would be Community Council, since I am an advisor,” says Cashman. “So it kind of has been resurrected after a couple year hiatus.”
After the gifts had been purchased, Community Council gathered them and readied them to be given to the families. In total, 27 bags from the high school were given to help the coalition, each with several different gifts. Afterwards, Collins spent much time making sure that each bag had what the family had asked for.
“It was overwhelming to see the caravan pull up to the distribution location completely filled from front to back with toys and bags,” says Collins. “A huge thank you to HHS for their help on paying it forth to our community.”
The coalition had helped 190 families receive gifts this year, a staggering amount compared to last year’s 140. Hudson High School will continue to provide families gifts so that they too can have a wonderful Christmas.