Strathmore High gives back to community

Manny Everett
Times Contributor

 

The Community Christmas dinner has been an annual event the Strathmore High School for the last 14 years.
It started as a LEO club project. LEO was a student club associated with the Lions club. However, now LEO has amalgamated with the Spartan Council.
Cheryl Davidson said the reason for the amalgamation was “mostly because it was the same kids going to both clubs so we just combined them.”
The Spartan Council now heads up the event under the direction of teachers Mrs. Greep and Mrs. Davidson and with the help of 45 students. Invitations are given to local schools and churches, asking that they give them to families that may be in need this Christmas season and to those who could use a little boost. The dinner is free but is by invitation only.
One hundred and seventy guests were served at the dinner. Davidson says it takes many volunteers to pull off this kind of night. Davidson divided council members into “boards” and each board took a different task, from donations to organization of the meal, creating invitations and decorating.
“As you can see, it’s a group effort and takes many volunteers to pull it off successfully,” says Davidson. “We rely on the generous donations from the community to be able to afford this event and are grateful for the many businesses and individuals who support it.”
Due to the economy, donations this year were smaller than what they have had in the past so they weren’t able to have door prizes, and the gifts for the children were smaller.
Overall, Davidson said she was happy with the outcome of the event and that they were pleased with the number of people who turned up.