With the holiday season being so hectic its easy to lose sight of the true meaning of  Christmas, but the Student Council is making sure to keep the meaning alive this holiday season by giving back and paying it forward.

Student Council is doing their annual gift giving project this year, and more students than ever volunteered to take part.  The project assigned  members with a wish list from a second grade student from the Leap Academy in Camden.  The students then go out and buy the presents for their child and attend a gift wrapping meeting after school where the students all wrap the gifts for their children. Student Council went out to the stores and tried to get as many things that their child asked for as possible while trying to keep within a $50 budget.

On December 16th, the participating Student  Council members went to the Leap Academy takes a trip to the school.  At the event, the members met their assigned child and gave them their gifts to unwrap.

For some of these children, this event may be the only “real” Christmas they get to experience.  Because of this, the Student Council members as well as their adviser, English teacher Mrs. Maryann Meehan, wanted to make sure to make it as memorable as possible for the children.

Student Council students rush out excitedly to the stores and try to get as many things that their child asked for as possible while trying to keep within a $50 budget.

Junior Danielle Pinto, who serves as vice-president of her class, anxiously awaited the event.

“I can’t wait to see my little girl’s face when she opens my presents and knowing I made her Christmas,” she said.

“My favorite part about the gift giving project is that it gives us a chance to pay it forward to the community, and I love seeing the kids faces when they open up their presents,” said historian Elizabeth Calderone.

So how did this Christmas tradition start? Meehan explained that it was through a family connection.

“The tradition originally started when one of my daughters was teaching in a school district and told me how needy the children were. We bought them presents and realized how much the children loved it and how much their parents appreciated it to we continued and it’s been going on for ten years now,” she said.

Her favorite part? “The expression on the children’s faces when they open up the gifts and the expression on our students’ faces as they realize the kindness they just bestowed on the children.”

Hammonton Student Council is working to keep the true meaning of Christmas alive  and hopefully this inspires other to do the same.