Key Club’s activities won’t end when school year does.
By: Donna Lukiw
As the school year winds down, Manville High School’s Key Club members are going strong and have many organized summer events under way.
This is the first year that Key Club, a community service organization, has had summer plans to continue with its service projects and volunteer time and effort at Manville community events.
For a state service project, students have a lemonade stand set up in school during school hours to raise money for pediatric cancer research.
Deborah Feeney, Key Club adviser, said this is the first time the club has been able to participate in a state service project due to the higher membership enrollment this year. Ms. Feeney said the club has grown from 10 members to about 50 in just three years.
The lemonade stand fundraising idea was started by Alex Scott, a Philadelphia girl who was suffering from cancer. After Alex died last year at the age of 8, her mother spread the idea of selling lemonade to benefit cancer research and it became a worldwide fundraiser.
The club hopes to sell lemonade during the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life this weekend, the annual MYAL carnival from June 14-18 and the annual street fair in September.
Valerie Hung, a junior at MHS and president of Key Club, has been very involved in organizing these events and sorting out the details.
"Key Club is student run and we have incredible officers this year," Ms. Feeney said.
The students also work with MIKES from Manville, an organization that helps people who can’t afford medical insurance, and frequently volunteer to help raise funds for its cause.
Members now are helping MIKES sell tickets for a Somerset Patriots minor-league baseball game to help raise money for the charity.
Last week, Key Club used a $500 Wal-Mart grant to throw a party with a luau theme at Eastern Star Nursing Home in Bridgewater. Key Club and the National Honor Society put on a talent show for the residents, with singing and musical acts, dancing and juggling.
"We’re trying to get the students to socialize with the residents," Ms. Feeney said.
The club planned to throw its own luau theme party yesterday to celebrate the end of the school year, but it won’t be the end of the year for Key Club with a full calendar and many glasses of lemonade to sell.