Shaw NHS Gives Back for Thanksgiving

by Dominic Allelo and Colin Crespo, ’23

Thanksgiving break is time for many students to unwind from months of hard work during the Fall semester. For others, it’s the perfect opportunity to give back. Members of the National Honors Society spent time at a local food pantry to help those less fortunate than themselves.

Seniors Dominic Allelo, Garrett Alello, Josh Nguyen, Andrew Hill, Lucas Faircloth, Connor Pulliam, and Junior Ayden Damare all took part in a big pre-Thanksgiving drive at the Giving Hope Food Pantry. Over the course of two days, the students packaged and delivered food to members of the community.

Archbishop Shaw sends students from all grade levels nearly every day of the week to Giving Hope. Despite the manpower, there’s always a need. That need is especially urgent during the holiday season. With that in mind, the NHS members decided to devote 35+ combined hours to help with the rush.

While it’s gratifying for the students to see the difference they’ve made, it was more important for them to have the chance to hear stories of hardship and hope. “I had no idea the extent to which the community around me had an inability to get food,” reflects Senior Lucas Faircloth. “Seeing what felt like a never ending line of cars lined up to receive food really opened my eyes.”

While the holiday season can be a difficult time in many ways, it is also a time of hope. For the Shaw NHS members, hope came in the opportunity to see so many people come together to make this great effort possible. As we enter the season of Advent, those Shaw students are reflecting on the great promise God made in the Incarnation: a promise of hope.