Walla Walla Valley Academy’s National Honor Society led the student body in putting together 18 welcome kits for the local Yong Women's Christian Association. Each kit contains self-care items, such as hair care products, toothpaste and a journal. The YWCA gives them to women entering their domestic violence shelter.
The service project was organized by 11 NHS students. To collect the necessary items to assemble in kits, classes were assigned responsibilities. The freshmen took on the work to gather dental care items.
At the end of the collection time the NHS students divided the items into bags, added a note of encouragement to each one and then delivered the bags to the YWCA, along with additional items that had been donated. Altogether, the donated items came to a value of approximately $400.
Mary Byrd, director of client services for the Walla Walla YWCA, said, “The welcome bags are so important because it tells the new residents that this place really is for them. Most of the women who come here, come with nothing and to have a bag of hygiene products ready so the first thing they can do is to take a shower is such a gift to a woman who is suffering.”
This is the first year WWVA has had a chapter of NHS. The organization’s core values are scholarship, leadership, character, and service. In keeping with the value of service, each chapter is required to carry out at least one service project per school year as a group, and individual members are also expected to engage in service activities.
NHS students became aware of this project through a call for donations on the YWCA’s Facebook page. Club members have also helped organize and staff blood drives at the school.
WWVA students work to prepare a welcome kit for a nearby domestic violence shelter.
