This year the Club also collected used cell phones for the Montgomery County Police Department, prepared gift boxes for Operation Christmas Child, compiled and donated a Thanksgiving food basket for Damascus Help, made tray favors for a local nursing home, and hand made scarves to send to an Indian reservation in South Dakota for the coming winter season. Club members like to help people in the community and they work hard for good causes.

One of the main projects we worked on this year was beautifying the entrance to the Damascus Volunteer Fire Department Activities Building. We took turns tending the flower beds throughout the season. We found the experience so worthwhile that we plan to do it again this year. It taught us teamwork and was a lot of hard work, so we had to learn responsibility.

A few Club members coordinated collection of toys for the Marine Toys for Tots campaign. As Club Reporter, I placed an ad in the local newspaper to advertise collection boxes at the Rite-Aid Pharmacy and John Deere Tractor stores in Damascus, and we took turns manning the booth at the Rite-Aid. Parents collected toys from co-workers and Club members brought in their donations. Two Marines in full dress uniform came to our monthly meeting to collect the toys. They said that we collected a lot of toys and they were impressed by how many we had collected. The toys completely filled the rear compartment of their large SUV.

I like doing community service projects because I like helping people who are less fortunate than me. When I take care of the flower beds at the DVFD Activities Building, I feel like I’m paying the Volunteer firefighters back for the activities and competitions that they organize and host. They always are helping us, so the least we can do is tend their flower beds. It makes me feel proud when I see the flowers there and also at the Montgomery County Agricultural Center and I can say, “I helped plant them”. It makes me feel caring because we are helping and people are depending on us.