Gloved hands moved quickly over the table, sorting loaves and pastries into clear bags for families to pick up. The volunteers behind them were Francis Lewis students, spending their weekend at the Nine Million Reasons food pantry as part of Key Club, an international organization branching off of the International Kiwanis family that engages high school students in collaborative community service.
At FLHS, these weekend events bring students together and help them form tighter-knit connections each time. Members volunteered at both the Nine Million Reasons food pantry and the annual Cupid’s Chase 5K, staying engaged throughout. At the food pantry, volunteers were asked to organize and carry essential supplies such as medicine, first aid kits, and perishable food donated to the pantry, making it easier for people in need to pick them up. At the Cupid’s Chase, volunteers registered runners as they arrived and provided pre-workout snacks, while others cheered on runners nearing the finish line and offered them their medals.
“Key Club provides a lot of volunteer opportunities for students that come from different areas, so they have a lot of different events that are accessible for people from different parts of the city,” Ms. Kuang, a faculty advisor of Key Club, said. “Oftentimes they will do weekend events and will have meetups, like public meetups in the Flushing Queens public library for example, to help people who might not be able to get to farther locations. So with the meetups, it helps bring people together, and they get to go to these events together.”
Students organized and sorted essential items such as medicine and canned foods at the Nine Million Reasons food pantry, working together collaboratively and enjoying the company of their peers.
“I think Key Club is a great way of bringing students together as a community,” Ms. Kuang said. “People who join Key Club have the same goals and shared interests of helping their community, so it helps them work together, and you know, develop friendships over these community service events on the weekends. A lot of the same people will go for bonds and giving back to their community.”
Key Clubbers carried crates of essential food items and helped fold and keep track of new staff apparel as directed by employees at the Nine Million Reasons food pantry, which gave volunteers a peek into what work life is like.
“We gain experiences through the community service that we do,” Julia Toribio, an active Key Club member, said. “There are so many different events that we do, so it gives us a wide range of knowledge too.”
Board members such as the president and the web master assisted in capturing photos and leading group members to their designated spots along the track of the annual Cupid’s Chase 5K, cheering on runners in support of people with disabilities on Valentine’s weekend.
“So those are some of the things we are required to do because Key Club is… you know, a part of Francis Lewis, but there are also Key Clubs branching off into different districts internationally, so we have roles and standards we have to follow like that,” Rita Bai, the president of Key Club at FLHS, said. “So one of the things that I do is to make sure that my board members are following those international standards and regulations to ensure Key Club is run effectively.”
Events such as the Nine Million Reasons food pantry and the annual Cupid’s Chase 5K are events where students have continuously shown interest, and both require volunteers to do a variety of tasks, increasing their engagement, Bai said.
“Those are events where students have continuously shown interest, and signed up like ten, twenty students,” Bai said. “If a lot of students sign up for those events, that means, you know, it’s an event that we should continue having and that is enjoyable, and they enjoy serving that specific community.”
