The service-learning students at Lakeland High School are hoping to lend a helping mitten to the less fortunate this winter.

As one of their class projects for the year, the students are teaming up with Lakeland’s DECA Club and reaching out to teachers, parents, community members and other students to donate hats, scarves and gloves.
“They are asking every student in school to bring a hat, a pair of gloves or a scarf to give,” said Catherine Williams, the service-learning teacher at Lakeland.

The students are asking for everyone to donate new items.

The collection will end on Feb. 3, and the students will donate the items to the Genieve Shelter, which serves victims of domestic violence, and the ForKids organization, which provides help for the homeless.

Service learning is an elective for juniors and seniors at Lakeland. The students are required to do community service.

“We do some class projects, but on their own, they have to do at least 70 hours of community service during the school year,” Williams said.

Through the projects, she said, the students develop leadership and teamwork skills while having a positive impact on their community.

To select a class project, the students investigate how they can do the most good in their community.

“They research needs within their city,” Williams said.

For the drive, she said, the students researched different agencies and chose ForKids and the Genieve Shelter.

In addition to doing community service, the students also enhance Standards of Learning, Williams said.

“They have to identify SOLs that they will be learning about and enhancing while they are doing the project,” she said.

If a community member is interested in donating items to the drive, contact Catherine Williams at Lakeland High School at 925-5790.