McGuffey Elementary students give back

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A community service organization started four years ago at William Holmes McGuffey Elementary School allows students to get more involved with and give back to the community.

McGuffey’s K-Club, or Key Club, boasts 25 members this year. Each fourth-through-sixth-grade member is selected by a teacher based on positive behavior, good grades and school attendance.

“We are sponsored by the Youngstown Kiwanis and are a service organization that works both in the school and the community,” said McGuffey teacher Pauline Cunningham, the group’s adviser.

The group meets every other Friday after school and students pick the efforts in which they want to be involved.

“The children pick the activities we do and will come to meetings with newspaper cutouts and other printouts of events,” Cunningham said. “We try to do whatever we can fit in.”

This year, the group helped plant bulbs with Youngstown CityScape in the city’s downtown and ran its second food drive and turkey giveaway. The K-Club gave away 35 full boxes of food, potatoes and turkey to families. More food was donated to the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley.

Activities still planned for this school year include more city cleanups, a fundraiser and a gift and supply collection for Akron Children’s Hospital.

The club’s adviser said Key Club members enjoy getting involved in community projects.

“They are role models in our school and in our community when we are out,” the club’s adviser said.