The AHS and DNG Leading Ladies are hosting events such as drives and activities through December up until the end of the school year to support the school and local community.
“So right now we are doing a cozy drive,” DNG sponsor Delainey Staats said, “We’re picking up socks, coats, anything that could keep people warm.”
The freshmen members and sponsors Estee Diaz and Staats hope to send the clothes out in January and February when colder weather hits.
“It’s not too cold right now, but whenever it’s even worse they’ll be able to have access to those things,” Staats said.
The AHS leading ladies are also having their events this December. Such as candy cane making and words of the year.
“At our next meeting we are making candy canes and have a word every year,” senior president Emery Thompson said. “December’s is humility and we’re going to focus on being humble and just thankful for this season full of thanksgiving and supplication.”
Candy canes and the words of the year aren’t the only warm messages the ladies and AHS sponsors Jamie Rinehart and Alexis Spencer are sending. They also plan to send thank you letters to people in their lives who have left a lasting impact on them.
“We’re going to write cards to people in our lives just so that we can thank them for being humble and for portraying that and why we are thankful for them in general,” Thompson said.
The organization also has plans for the month of April and the Easter holiday.
“We have some really exciting things planned for the month of April, last year awe made little eggs that had candy in them with a kind note and we hid them around the school,” Thompson said. “We’re going to have little things like that, and more will definitely be there.”
Leading Ladies also go to nursing homes and living homes. There they spend time and take care of the elderly, and have tea with them.
“They work with our elderly community, they assist in living homes, and they get to see how much joy they bring to their day,” Jamie Rinehart said. “I think the reward of feeling good about stepping outside of yourself and doing for others becomes a reward in itself.”
The goal of the organization is supporting the community and school in their own way. Along with that, Thompson has her own goal for the organization’s members by the end of the year.
“I want the members to know who they are,” Thompson said, “It’s sometimes so easy to fall into the cyclical pattern of high school and trying to meet everybody’s expectations. But I want them to know that at the end of the day that’s not what it’s about. It’s about who you are and how you treat other people, and the confidence you have in yourself. That’s the ultimate goal.”
