It’s the time of year where people become more merry and giving, and Metea has taken part in this with students and staff donating to the toy drive initiative through Dec. 9 to help the under resourced families in District 204 in hopes of raising spirits and bringing a sense of community.

Waubonsie Valley High School’s organization of Latin American Students is currently partnering with Gift Mart Wheatland Community and promoted by Metea’s Key Club to collect new, unwrapped gifts between $15 to $20 that are safe for children aged six through twelve.

“It also supports education by channeling funds back to elementary schools in under-resourced areas where it’s often hard for parents to support PTA fundraisers,” English teacher and key advisor Sue Povilonis said.

Moments like these give Mustangs an opportunity to spread kindness and happiness to the children who are receiving these gifts.

“Families in financial stress can remain somewhat anonymous, yet provide toys for their children at Christmas. They are made to feel special at the Giftmart event, and they’re able to preserve their dignity by contributing something for the toys they get,” Povilonis added.

Tim Robaczewski chose to also focus on the unification aspect of it. “There’s a feeling of accomplishment that everybody gets from it. The children are able to get what they so desperately want, and the entire school as a family is able to help them out. There is always a sense of giving and community that I’ve always felt at Metea, so just bringing everybody together is a great way to keep it around,” math teacher Timothy Robaczewski said.

Students didn’t fail to express the toy drive’s importance upon realizing that it exposes them to a world outside of their own where people are in need, and that they could quiet that suffering a little bit.

“It’s sad to think that there are people in our area that don’t have the luxuries and benefits we have, and I feel as though some people forget about that. By giving though, it makes the people who are donating feel better, but it also makes the children who are getting the donation feel happy and noticed,” junior Emily Hoyle said.

“I think it’s really good that the school is acting out and giving to under resourced children in the district. With Christmas around the corner, some people can’t afford presents on this holiday and it’s very important to a lot of people in America, and it’s nice that they can actually have the chance to receive presents and have the same privileges as everybody else does,” junior Mae Antar said.

Awareness came to mind in terms of promoting an initiative like this. Mustangs believed that if most people were fully aware of the toy drive, then there would be more donations. This lead to possible improvements of the toy drive.

“I feel like people vaguely know about it and are indifferent to it sometimes [because] we live in a good area. For example, I was somewhat unaware of the toy drive and its purpose, but the drive helps with identifying the actual issue in schools,” Antar added.

“Families that don’t have housing, and are going through unemployment in our district, but they don’t announce the fact, so it’s easy to be unaware of it. Though I hope we’ll be able to show a video to all the classes in future years to raise awareness and increase involvement,” Povilonis said.

To Mustangs, the toy drive brought a bundle of feelings that exemplify what it means to be a caring person, and made an ordinary day into a good one for children who are underprivileged.

Note: This article has been revised for grammar and style changes.