DIS students offer holiday support to worthy causes

In November, Daniel Island School students and families donated over 800 pounds of food items as part of their annual Holiday Food Drive to East Cooper Community Outreach and the local VFW. The school has organized a food drive for EECO for the past five years lead by DIS middle school guidance counselor Carolyn Aarons, but this year Ms. Stephanie Dedoes’ 7th grade language arts class did a special study on veterans, which inspired them to contribute to the local VFW as well.  

“Through the lessons in both Social Studies and Language Arts, the students truly understand why veterans should be honored, and how we can do little things to help them - like donate food,” said Ms. Dedoes.

Ms. Aarons shared, “The character education word of the month for December is Generosity: a Willingness to Give Back to Others and this is a lesson we try to reinforce in our students every day not just in December.”

The DIS middle school students in Beta Club and Student Council volunteered their time and manpower to count, move, and load all of the food, clothes, and hygiene items into a delivery truck. 

Continuing the emphasis on community giving in December, DIS students and families also brought in new unwrapped toys in support of Happy Wheels. Ms. Amy Hardison led this initiative after her nephew spent time in an MUSC hospital around the holidays. “We have seen first-hand the joy it brings these children. I think it is so important to give our students opportunities and experiences to give the ‘gift of giving’ and especially to peers their age,” she said. 

Each week, Happy Wheels pushes a cart down the hallways of MUSC Children’s Hospital and patients get to choose a toy from the cart. Happy Wheels delivers toys, on average, anywhere from 80-90 patients, including babies, each time. That’s a lot of toys, so donations are critical to continuing this effort.

Ashly Grzyb is vice president of programming for the Daniel Island School Parent Teacher Association.