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The gift of exchange
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Sixth-grader Danny Moore, a Crestview student, takes a bag from the Springfield bus during the two schools’ annual holiday project.
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
COLUMBIANA
They compete in sports, but that’s where the rivalry ends.
Every year, students at Springfield Intermediate School in New Middletown and Crestview Middle School collect gifts for members of the other’s community.
“So many times, Christmas is about getting, getting, getting, and not giving,” said Melanie Workman, an intervention specialist at Springfield Intermediate. “I just want them to be able to see that there are other people that need things and they can help them out.”
Workman, and her husband, Scott, an eighth-grade science teacher at Crestview Middle School, spearheaded the project 16 years ago.
At each school, the students bring in new, unwrapped gifts. The Springfield students collect for the Crestview project — a gift giveaway for needy families at Abundant Life Church in New Waterford. The Crestview children collect for the Springfield Township Community Council of Churches food basket and gift giveaway.
A group of students met Wednesday at the Burger King in Columbiana for this year’s gift exchange.
They shared lunch and then climbed into their respective buses and hauled out large, black garbage bags filled with gifts to give to the students from the other school.
“I think it’s really fun,” said Olivia Strank, a Crestview fifth-grader. She helped pick out the 40 gifts she donated.
It’s important to help, she said, because it means children in families who can’t afford gifts will still be able to have a nice Christmas.
It is fun, agreed Kassity Miller, a Crestview sixth-grader. “You’re helping people who don’t have toys like we do, and you’re giving to others, so it’s really fun.”
Springfield students feel the same way.
“It’s cool,” said Jack Angelo, a sixth-grader at Springfield. “It’s good to give.”
Luke Weingart, another sixth-grader in Springfield, agreed. “You get a chance to give other people things that they don’t have,” he said. He helped pick out his donations.
Students in the two schools have collected 28,000 gifts since the program’s inception. This year, they collected about 1,100 gifts.
The children hear about the project in elementary school, Scott Workman said, and when they get to the middle school, they’re excited to take part.
“I think community service when it comes to a small community like Crestview makes a difference,” he said. “And Springfield’s also a small community. But when they can come together and find out they can do a lot of good for a lot of people, I think it means a lot more to them.”