The eleventh annual National Honor Society giving tree is back up in the library. West Salem High School students are encouraged to take a tag off of the tree and get the gift card that is written on the tag to return to the science teacher and National Honor Society (NHS) advisor, Jenny Stenberg.
“There was an email sent out with a Google form, I think it was at the end of October, that was sent out to all of the families in the district just saying that if you needed a little extra help this holiday season or anything like that, they were welcome to fill out this form,” Mrs. Stenberg explained how eligible families are chosen for the gift cards.
The NHS is less involved in this step. Mrs. Stenberg said that Student Services sends out Google forms to families in the area as well as personally asking students that they have identified might need a little extra help. Once Student Services identify what is needed, they let the NHS know. NHS’s job is to set up the tree and organize the gift cards when they get brought back. Once sorted, Student Services either send to families or discreetly give them to students.
“When we first did it, we did things more like ‘five year old girl’ and we would put size six, stuffed animals, like that kind of stuff. So, we started out with gifts, and we had about a hundred tags on that first year. And k-12, that kind of thing there,” she recounted the first year of the giving tree. “The problem with that was we were finding [that] someone got a really unique pink sweatshirt, and then two weeks later, you’re walking by the high school and you see that child wearing that sweatshirt. So now you know who got the gift. It was a confidentiality issue why we made that change.”
Mrs. Stenberg explained how the first year was completely different then how it is now. After that first year, they switched to gift cards. Now this year is the first year they’re making the option of choosing either a $25 or a $50 gift card. She said it helped student services balance everything out.
“This year we have two hundred and twenty five gift cards on there. So, we’ve already had over a hundred selected. I went and counted yesterday. It took me a little while, on the tree there. And I sent out just an update. You guys probably heard the announcement yesterday, too. I cannot believe how many people have reached out,” Mrs. Stenberg expressed.
The amount of support the tree has gotten this year is amazing. Elementary school teachers have been sending home information about the tree in their weekly newsletters to family, which she said helped a lot. This year one family offered to even take ten $50 gift cards from the tree. She was so grateful for the support on the tree this year.
“My heart is always full around the holidays, and the giving tree is another reason it gets filled. Our community is so generous and supporting our students in times of need, and it’s really fun for me because I’m one of them that gets to give the gifts out to the families in need. I’m super grateful for our community,” said Julie Arentz who is a guidance counselor at West Salem High School. She plays an active role in helping organize the giving tree.
The support this year has been tremendous. Everyone involved is super thankful for people who have chosen to give back to others in need this holiday season. If you have the means available, it is highly encouraged to take a tag off of the giving tree and return it to Mrs. Stenberg December 13th.