There are winter-themed drives going on at school right now in order to help members of the community who are in need as holidays get closer.

     “People are more in need than ever during this time of year,” president of the UNICEF Club Ella Goeckner-Wald said.

    There are two drives going on in the school right now; a book drive and a canned food drive, hosted by the UNICEF Club and the Planoettes respectively. STUCO also hosted a winter clothing drive, which has just ended. These clubs are encouraging students to give back to the people of Plano.

   The books donated to the drive by the UNICEF Club will be sold to Half-Price Books, and the profits made from the sales will go support the non-profit organization UNICEF.

    The organization supports people on an international level by providing services, which include helping the world’s most unfortunate citizens. All students need to do is donate books in the boxes placed throughout A building.  

    “Bring any books you have; old, new, short, long, any kind is great,” Goeckner-Wald said.

     The drive is open until the end of the semester. There will be another book drive put in place next semester as well.

    The other drive going on at the moment is the canned food drive, hosted by the Planoettes. The only requirements for the canned food drive are that nothing glass can be donated and that no product can contain nuts. Students can donate any canned food items in boxes located in D136 or in their fourth period classroom.  

    “People are in greater need as the holidays approach, and we are trying to do our part by feeding as many mouths as possible,” Planoette team manager, junior Nosso Karamoko said.

    The canned food drive will be open until the week after the break, so after Thanksgiving is over, students are encouraged to bring any unused cans. The fourth period class who donates the most cans gets to dress their teacher as a turkey.

    STUCO’s winter clothing drive is now over, but “students had done a great job in giving back,” STUCO member Jonathan Lopez said.

    The multitude of items donated including coats, pants and socks went towards City House Plano, a shelter housing homeless people all year long.

    “People often overlook the importance of clothes at this time of year. That’s why we started this drive, ” Lopez said.     

    Due to the success of this year’s winter clothing drive, there are plans to continue it next year.

    “I think drives are plentiful during this time of year because of the giving spirit of the holidays,” Karamoko said.