Helping the community build tomorrow, today: Fairfield hosts annual Lions Care Day

For five years, Fairfield Local High School has been putting on Lions Care Day. 

This annual event kicks off with Stephen Hackett, the high school principal, sharing his holiday wishes with the student body before they are separated into one of the nine clubs. Each club participating in the day is doing something different, from putting together art kits for kids in the Alternatives to Violence Shelter in Hillsboro to making German Stars for cancer patients at the Highland District Hospital. 

Each club strives to bring holiday joy to the community around us. With the help of the high school Student Council, the Jostens Renaissance Club (JRC) is able to organize Lions Care Day every year. 

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Book Club makes cards, ornaments for Edgewood Manor residents
Submitted by William Rowe

Sometimes, even the smallest thing can make a huge difference in people's lives, especially around the holidays. Our Book Club spent their Lions Care Day aiming to bring some holiday spirit to some of the people who are often forgotten in the holiday season. 

The members made Christmas cards, as well as ornaments that will be delivered to Edgewood Manor in Greenfield. Each student had their own unique style of decorating, giving us all sorts of different colors, designs and messages, making each of them feel special. The goal of their project was to make sure that every resident felt remembered and cared for during the holiday season. 

Book Club Adviser, Ms. Zink, gave a description of their work saying, “We are making Christmas cards and Christmas ornaments for a nursing home in Greenfield. Many are bedridden and this is a way to brighten their season.” 

Even the students that aren’t too artsy put their effort into making every single gift special, as they all understood that even such a small gesture could mean a lot. 

One of their members, Avery Morrow, gave us her opinion on the day saying, “Making Christmas cards makes me happy, I love spreading cheer to my community.” 

Avery represents the common sentiment across everyone in the club, that they love making a difference during the holiday. Book Club has an amazing goal to make sure everyone's remembered during the holiday season, spreading all sorts of cheer.

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Student Ambassadors ‘shine’ with German Stars for HDH patients
Submitted by William Rowe

The Student Ambassadors are Fairfield’s shining star, quite literally, as their goal for the day is to create German Stars for cancer patients at the Highland District Hospital. 

German Stars are surprisingly complex paper ornaments, which takes patience and perseverance to create. For the majority of the group, it was their first time making something like this, but they worked hard nonetheless. Despite the difficulty, with their advisers’ help and dedication, they were able to finish. 

Their adviser, Ms. Buddelmeyer, said, “Lions Care Day is a very important day at Fairfield Local Schools, we look forward to this day every year and our students look forward to giving back to the community,” which truly shows how dedicated both the students and staff are to spreading holiday spirit. 

You can tell by the effort put in that the members truly care about brightening these patients' holiday, leading to their work being even better. One member, Ellie Humphreys, said, “Lions Care Day is fantastic, Amy is very fantastic, but we’re struggling.” Her quote expresses that even though it’s difficult, it's very rewarding to complete, especially with the help of their adviser. While learning new things is difficult, putting in that effort for a good cause makes it all worth it.

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Drama Club creates cards for veterans
Submitted by Hannah Carroll

Drama Club is a widely enjoyed club throughout the school, bringing kids together who don't normally interact with each other daily. 

Club Adviser, Miss Fisher, shares with us what they do throughout the year: “Our club learns about theater and drama, plays acting games, and practices getting out of our comfort zones, expanding our social skills.” The club does exactly that, bringing students from all grades together and allowing them to let loose and become more confident in their acting and social skills. 

The club is brought together every year for Lions Care Day to create holiday cheer through crafts. Within the past few years, the club has made handcrafted scarves, hats and most recently candy cane cards for people around the school. 

This year, the club is brought together again to make cards for veterans within the county. With this activity, each student is given creative freedom in order to make these cards, allowing for each one to be unique for each veteran. 

Club Adviser, Ms. Gagliardi, adds on to this and shares, “What I love about the club is that all of our students are so willing to participate and show the community our appreciation. This year, we are making holiday cards for the Highland County Veterans Association to lift their spirits in the holiday season.” 

Not only are the advisers enjoying the activity, senior club member Maxine Ludwick is enjoying it as well. When talking to her, she shares that, “I chose to be involved in Drama Club because the atmosphere is very nice and theater is fun. Today I am making holiday cards for veterans. I’ve enjoyed making these cards because I like making art and giving it to people, making them happy.” 

She isn't the only student enjoying the activity. Around the band room, students were creating these cards, talking, watching holiday films and just enjoying themselves. 

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Robotics Club designs custom ornaments for HDH patients
Submitted by Mariska Sheppard 

Lions Care Day is one of the busier days at Fairfield Local. High school clubs such as the Robotics Club take the day and volunteer to help out the community. 

In the Robotics Club, they are making laser engraved ornaments to give to patients at the Highland County District Hospital, customizing each of the ornaments with the technology in the robotics classroom. The students are hoping the ornaments will boost the patients’ spirits during the holiday season.  

During the day, the classroom was filled with smiles and laughter while making the ornaments. 

Killian Matson, a Fairfield sophomore, shared something he learned throughout the process, “I was able to learn and identify the help and needs that others may have.” 

At the same time, the students worked and communicated with each other to complete the ornaments. Each student had a job to complete to ensure the ornaments for the hospital patients were perfected. 

The Robotics Club Adviser, Mr. Roush shared what this project means to him: “It's cool to see our talents and tools being used for other people in the community.”  

The club wants to continue in helping out the community with the resources they have. Once the ornaments are complete, they plan to have them delivered to the hospital by Dec. 20. 

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Art Club assembles art kits for Alternatives to Violence
Submitted by Mariska Sheppard 

Art can be used for kids to relax in stressful situations. The Fairfield Local Art Club plans to help kids get the resources they need. 

For Lions Care Day, the Art Club is putting together art kits to donate to the Alternatives to Violence Shelter in Hillsboro. The kits contain markers, colored pencils, sketch books and encouraging notes for the kids. The art kits give the kids something to work on while things are getting situated. 

The students in the club were excited to be able to help other children. Landyn Hodson, a Fairfield freshman, says, "I hope the project makes kids smile and have a better day.” 

A major goal of their efforts is to show that us high school students can help other children get through difficult situations. The Art Club Adviser, Mrs. Horsley said, “The project is something nice for the kids in the community who are going through something stressful, and I love to see kids helping kids.” 

During Lions Care Day, the students were making the kits and each bag was unique, made specially for each kid to enjoy, with the end goal to make each kid feel better. Throughout the day, members were able to learn from each other. 

Ruby Henninger, a Fairfield freshman, went on to say, “I learned ways to help people stay positive in scary situations.” 

After the school day is over, the Art Club Adviser, Mrs. Horsley is going to deliver the kits to the shelter. The work of the Art Club is admirable, hopefully bringing joy to those who need it. 

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Spanish Club organizes various projects to give back
Submitted by AbbyGail Riley

The season of giving teaches more than gift-giving, it also teaches how to provide empathy and care. This Lions Care Day, members of the Fairfield Local Spanish Club did multiple activities to give back to their community. 

To begin the day, students were broken up into groups and visited three second grade classrooms to share the origins of how hot chocolate was traditionally made in Mesoamerica. They included the details of the Native American tribes that created the drink and its original uses in their culture. They also made sure to educate the students about how the drink changed in Europe to become what is drank today. 

Club member Jillian Harvey, a senior at Fairfield Local, states that, “I’m glad to be with the second graders today and educate them about this history. I think it’s important that during this time, we focus on the younger students too and help them learn about things they wouldn’t have otherwise.” Miss Harvey’s feelings on the short presentation show how important the season truly is. 

After the hot chocolate lesson, students returned to their classroom to create care packages for children in the Children Services, Foster, and Kinship Program. Spanish Club took donations from their community to create these packages, with items such as shampoo, soap, deodorant, dental hygiene products and many more to provide children of all ages with their essentials during the holiday season. 

Club Adviser, Mrs. Allard, explains how much these activities mean to her during the giving season. She said, “These activities are important to teach both young children and Spanish Club members about Spanish culture. The care packs give our students the opportunity to give back to their peers who are in an unfortunate situation.” 

For the Spanish Club, these activities mean more than just a school community service project. It’s a valuable lesson that during the season of giving, empathy and care should be given to those in all walks of life. 

• • •

National Honor Society crafts cards, ornaments for nursing home residents
Submitted by Rilee Quickle

For this year's annual community service project conducted by our National Honor Society, Club Advisor Ms. Welling, with the assistance of Mrs. Hattan, brought their members together to make holiday cards for a local nursing home. The Laurels, located in Hillsboro and its surrounding community, aids in assisting those in need of therapies or medical support. 

As the adviser of the NHS, Ms. Welling hopes that, “This experience shows students the importance of giving back to their community through the time and effort they put into this project.” 

Beginning the day making ornaments, the students channeled their jolly spirits. As the day went by, they transitioned into crafting homemade cards. Students in this club used their artistic skills to come up with a set of holiday cards that would be delivered to The Laurels later that evening. In doing so, the group hopes to bring them holiday cheer. 

On the community impact of this project, one of our Fairfield NHS members adds that, “This will impact our community by raising Christmas spirits and spreading kindness.” 

As always, kindness, responsibility, and respectfulness are the virtues that every student here at Fairfield is expected to exhibit. In service, as one of the fundamental pillars of the National Honor Society, our Lions did an excellent job.

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Science Club makes toys for shelter animals
Submitted by Rilee Quickle

Since Fairfield began the tradition of Lions Care Day, Science Club, under the leadership of Mrs. Martinez, has hand-made animal toys for various shelters in the surrounding community. 

Each year, the Science Club members choose from an array of different patterns in which they use to design toys that they donate with these special shelter animals in mind. This year, the club will deliver to both the Highland County Humane Society and the Highland County Dog Pound. 

Incorporating recycled materials, the toys are crafted with utmost care. With full hearts, students imagine all of the animals they will bring joy to with their tremendous efforts. 

When asked about this project, one of our thoughtful students included that, “This project means a lot to me because I care very much for animals in need. Most of all, I want to bring them happiness with my service.” 

Furthermore, students are encouraged to branch out and learn new skills with this activity. They also are inspired to be selfless and show compassion to these shelter animals as they experience what we only hope is a temporary home. 

Supervisors Mrs. Melson and Mr. Duffie agreed that, “Lions Care Day is important because it allows students to give back to many facets of the community.” 

Science Club reminds our community that the holiday season yields great blessings, and with this, the club and its members brings that warm spirit to all.

• • •

Fairfield Local FFA fills care baskets for first responders
Submitted by Kaylee Hurless-Miller

This Lions Care Day, Fairfield Local FFA members dedicated their time to serving our community by creating care baskets and handmade cards for local first responders. This project focused on showing appreciation to those who work tirelessly to protect and serve the area surrounding Fairfield Local, especially during the busy holiday season. 

Members worked together to assemble over 20 baskets filled with thoughtful items and encouraging messages. Each card was written with care to express the gratitude felt for the commitment and sacrifices first responders make every day. The project allowed members to reflect on the importance of community service and recognize those who often work behind the scenes. 

Mrs. Thomas shared why she felt this activity was important, explaining that first responders deserve recognition during the holidays. She noted, “I felt like first responders were the busiest during the holidays, and they deserve something nice. They’re a big part of the community.” She is emphasizing the vital role first responders play when continuing to serve the community selflessly. 

The project strongly reflected the values and missions of the National FFA Organization. Mrs. Dickey explained that FFA members are always looking for ways to give back to their community. She pointed out, “Some of the first responders in our community are really active within our school district and keeping us safe, so for us to give back to them this holiday season really means a lot.” 

Because FFA members see them working daily to keep students safe, giving back to them during the holiday season is especially meaningful. 

For members like Maddy Wiseman, this project was especially personal. She shared that it meant a lot to give back to the people who help protect her community when saying, “I know a lot of people who are first responders and I have created relationships with them so I enjoy getting to give back to them and open new opportunities, showing kindness to them.” She felt as though she was giving a thank-you gift to them. 

Through Lions Care Day, Fairfield Local FFA demonstrated leadership, service and gratitude while making a positive impact in their community. Members were able to come together to accomplish good through making care baskets full of goods this holiday season. This FFA Chapter plans to donate these baskets to fire departments and police stations in responding areas immediately.

• • •

Once the morning is over and lunchtime rolls around, the Student Council provides the high school with Papa John's Pizza. The students are able to chat with friends about the morning activities and play games before returning back to their clubs. 

After enjoying the pizza and the conversation, students are sent back to their clubs to finish up the activity from the morning or immerse themselves in holiday films and games with friends. Once all is said and done, Fairfield Local High School was able to put on yet another wonderful Lions Care Day.