Around West Essex this year, there have been many different fundraisers occuring during the ‘giving’ season. Key Club and Cooking 4 a Cause have dedicated their time to completing charitable deeds and donations to charities.
Key Club held a holiday drive to donate toys to local organizations from Nov. 30 to Dec. 5 and Cooking 4 a Cause organized a school-wide bake sale on Oct. 25 to raise money to give turkeys to Toni’s Kitchen for the Thanksgiving season. Senior Riley Friedman, president of Cooking 4 a Cause, stressed the importance of helping those in need, especially in the local area
“We wanted to do this fundraiser to help give back to the local community,” Friedman said. “Every year, our club does a turkey drive to raise money and donate Thanksgiving foods to Toni’s Kitchen in Montclair. This year, we decided to just focus on turkeys because the kitchen normally gets an excess of canned goods.”
The bake sale was very successful for the club, netting more than $200 to buy turkeys for Toni’s Kitchen.
Cooking 4 a Cause is planning on doing more fundraisers throughout the year to support different charities as well.
“So far, we are planning to do fundraisers for Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter by baking dog treats to donate to the dogs and baking holiday cookies for the senior living centers around the towns,” Friedman said.
While Cooking 4 a Cause uses bake sales to give back, the Key Club uses item collections such as the Holiday Toy Drive. Amanda Fernicola, the adviser of the Key Club, spoke on the importance of the holiday toy drive to the club. The toys received are given to Senator Joeseph Pennacchio’s office in Montville and distributed to many local organizations, who give out toys to families in need.
“Each year we have collected anywhere between 1,500-2,000 toys and hope to collect as many or even more this year,” Fernicola said. “The impact our collection has on our community is vast and Key Club is very grateful for the support from all of the extracurricular activities and sports teams who donate as well.”
Throughout the rest of the year, there are more fundraisers expected as West Essex has made it an important focal point to give back to others and help the community.
