Schools
Honor Society Helps the Homeless
B-BP National Honor Society packages hygiene products to distribute to the homeless with the help of Dept. of Social Services.
Students with the National Honor Society recently teamed with the Suffolk County Department of Social Services (DSS) to bring basic hygienic necessities to 265 homeless men, women and children of Suffolk County.
On Tuesday afternoon, DSS representative James Nelson transported the overloaded trolley full of personal hygiene products to county homeless shelters. He expressed his thanks on behalf of DSS to the honor society.
“Nobody has to sleep outside," Nelson said. "Most people don’t want to come to the shelters, but we like to hand these packs out anyway to help them.”
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Honor Society members said they spent hours packaging approximately 200 hygiene pouches for adults and 65 pouches for children, totaling to about 1,200 items. Each pouch contained shampoo, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste, a toothbrush and other basic hygienic tools.
Members not only asked other students to contribute items to the packages, but they also reached out to their personal dentists for free samples of toothpaste, tooth brushes and other tooth care items to add into the pouches.
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“It was a really brilliant idea on their part,” said Donna Edgar, the National Honor Society advisor.
Students demonstrated their generosity through this effort, according to Edgar, who said society members wanted to help out as much as possible. One student even brought in a hoard of hotel soaps and shampoos from past vacations, Edgar said.
“I think any time she went to a hotel in her whole life, she collected every bar of soap, every shampoo and mouthwash.” Edgar joked. “She came in with like 50 soaps and was ready to give up her stash.”
The Honor Society also made an arrangement with the . Edgar said CVS brought in many travel-sized items together and made samples available to students for under $1.
National Honor Society President Andy Chang said the club was proud to help the homeless.
“It was just shocking news to see how many people were left outside in the cold, especially when we started this project during the winter,” Chang said. “We just really wanted to show them our support.”
Principal Timothy Hearney expressed his gratitude to the honor society members for its hard work and its big heart.
“I truly believe I have the best job in the world,” Hearney said to the students. “You never cease to amaze me.”
