During the Holiday season, many people feel the urge to give back to the community and help the less fortunate. Canton High School provides many opportunities to give back. A requirement for graduation from Canton High School is that each graduate completes 80 hours of community service, 20 hours each year. I find that most students are caring and philanthropic, and don't think of community service as a task that has to be done, but more as an exciting opportunity to help others, that is gladly done. 

Canton High provides many outlets and resources to obtain these 80 hours of community service. Christmas in the City is one of the biggest community service projects at Canton High. Christmas in the City is located in Boston and volunteers from all over meet at  a big conference center to help the less fortunate to celebrate the holidays. Christmas in the City is a multi-day event.

On the first day, students go to the Boston conference center and prepare for this big party. Moon walks and crafts are set up for the children, and presents, such as dolls and hot wheels, are donated to the Christmas in the City project for wrapping and distribution.   On the second day of the event, the homeless shelters bring their residents and the smiling children.  When they walk into the building, it's an amazing, heart-warming feeling. The children run around with the volunteers all day, visiting Santa, getting haircuts, having a visit to the dentist, eating a yummy meal, playing games and creating crafts, while the parents of the children relax, enjoy a meal and watch their kids enjoy the day. 

Christmas in the City is only one example of the many community service jobs that are available. Halloween for the Hungry is another great way to help others and fulfill your hourly obligation, and it is a lot of fun! Halloween for the Hungry is when students put pamphlets throughout the neighborhood, requesting Canton Food Pantry donations. Then, donations of non-perishables are collected, instead of candy from trick or treating. My friends and I did Halloween for the Hungry this year. We had a blast as we drove around our neighborhood with our music on and our heads out the windows, looking for bags of canned food. It felt great bringing the bags and bags of canned goods to the food pantry the next day.  

For me, community service is very enjoyable. I love being able to give back to the community and to have that great feeling of helping others. Of course doing the services with friends is a lot of fun too! 

For more information on community service at Canton High School, please contact Mr. Ed Amico (director of community service at Canton High) at  amicoe@cantonma.org