Tis the season! The season of joy and glee continues to brighten our lives as well as the lives of others. ACPHS students Julia Kim and Solstice Monroe are running a gift drive at our school for senior citizens, collecting blankets, socks, and slippers. The Live Love non-profit is committed to providing extra love and support to the elderly during the holidays. These kinds of gift drives unite various communities to work together toward a common objective. This wonderful holiday gift drive aims to provide the elders with the necessary items needed for winter. As the young generation, we share our love for gifting to others, and together, we can spread it until it echoes through our community. Gift-giving to everyone is crucial for showing generosity, care, and kindness to people in need. When we give gifts, it brings joy and happiness to the receiver. In a holiday spirit packed with shine and bliss, the best gift is to give to others. ACP is continuously becoming more and more of a connected community through these incredible opportunities to do good and give back. We teach ourselves to never shy away from giving gifts and anything else to those most in need of it. Individuals spread the meaning of kindness, which develops a more positive environment, inspires others to be kind themselves, and builds a happier place for everyone. 
I had the opportunity to interview Amrutha Yenugula, a sophomore here at ACP. Her thoughts on a gift drive specifically for the elders are that “it is great that people are reaching out and giving them the love they deserve since the elderly have been neglected a lot in our society at present.” I asked her if she believes that this gift drive is a meaningful and impactful initiative, to which she responded, “I believe that it is very impactful as the elderly are very important and often not thought about, and organizing a drive is a way for us to show our support and care for them.” This drive could positively affect the lives of the elderly individuals in our community because “The elderly in our community are rarely considered. Giving gifts to them could impact their mental health in a tremendously beneficial way, making them happy during this holiday season.”
In Amrutha’s view, another strategy that could be successful in encouraging community engagement and participation in gift drives is “perhaps increasing advertisement of the drive would be great, including putting posters above the phone caddies in the classroom because most people look in that area every day.” The gift drive will impact the students at ACP because “students at ACP become more generous, and giving is an essential attribute for humans to have.” Giving to everyone is a fundamental human value because, “in a way, it teaches compassion to everyone.” I asked her why she would want to help the elders because senior citizens are very important and, as I have said before, very often neglected.
Kindness fosters empathy, a value everyone at ACP holds close to their hearts. The more we age and begin to see the past through the lens of the future, the more it makes us who we are as individuals. We will remember our generous deeds and continue to do more deeds in the future because everybody deserves the same love and care we give to our loved ones. This gift drive for senior citizens is a brilliant approach to a world that is a better place for everyone. ACPHS will always be ready to do anything possible to spread generosity. Remember to strive for the impossible and extraordinary! Go Knights!
