East Forsyth Students and Teachers Sort Toys at Salvation Army Christmas Center

Members of Family Community Leaders of America with teacher advisers

After school on Thursday, seven members of the Family Community Career Leaders of America (FCCLA) at East Forsyth High School and three of their teachers headed over to the Salvation Army’s Christmas Center on Peters Creek Parkway to help sort toys that will become holiday gifts for local children.

Their job for the afternoon was to sort through bins that had come into the center that were filled with a jumble of donated toys and to separate them into toys for boys and toys for girls and, in the process, to come up with a tally of the total number of toys. A couple of the students, armed with clipboards, took charge of keeping a tally while the other students and teachers went to work sorting.

Nikki Carmac, the club’s president, said that she was happy to be there. “It just makes you feel good knowing your are putting your hands on someone’s Christmas present who might not have gotten one.”

Looking around at the room filled with donated toys and clothes, she said, she was also impressed by how much people had donated. “It’s nice to know that our community gives.”

“I have learned people are very generous,” said club member Shamaya Crosson.

By the time the season is over, more than 7,000 children in Forsyth, Yadkin and Stokes counties will have received presents through the center. This is the third year that the club has supported this particular project. “This is something the kids ask to do each year,” said Greta Hegstrom, one of the three family & consumer science teachers joining the students at the center. The others were Jolie Gregory and Bethanye Carrigan.

Club member Alexis Gentry said that she had been looking forward to the volunteering at the center. “This is exciting,” she said.

“This is my second year doing it,” said Sherry Clark. “I enjoy helping out the community.”

The other students – Ladaisa Dow, Victoria Rivera and Khadeeja Johnson – offered similar reasons for participating. Johnson said that participating in the club has been a good experience. “It helped me build friendships and get close to people,” she said.