Key Club is an international club designed to help out the community and earn students volunteer hours. Their latest project is making Halloween gift bags for the teachers at Cape Coral High School.

“They’re just little goodie bags that we got from Dollar General, and then we got Halloween candies and bouncy balls, just some Halloween things like that,” said senior and Key Club Vice President Evalyn Klein.

This isn’t the first time that Key Club has done a project like this, as it’s been a running tradition within the club. “It was based on past projects. We’ve made Valentine’s stuff for the teachers, we’ve made cards, we just decided to make it Halloween themed this year,” said senior and Key Club Vice President Sabrina Dong.

“Most of the holidays we make things for the teachers, it’s a good way to show our appreciation for them. It’s a lot of effort, but in the end, it’s rewarding because they earn service hours and it goes towards the teachers,” said Klein.

Key Club is heavily involved in volunteering and is constantly trying to help out the community the best they can. “So many schools join this organization in order to provide service activities to the community,” said Key Club Sponsor Sthepany Bendezu. “Everything is in benefit of society, especially our school community.”

Key Club members are always coming up with ways to benefit their community. They are usually working on similar projects and finding new ways to help out those around them.

“The Halloween bags are those little details that Key Club is always organizing for teachers and the personnel in general. They work on those little details in order to keep them motivated, and so they have a good day,” said Bendezu. “Key Club is always working very hard to provide those details.”

Key Club members have been working on this both inside and outside of club hours. While members do participate to earn service hours, it also serves as a good way to give back to the Seahawk family. “We bought most of the items for it, and then after our meetings on Mondays, for like an hour members will assemble the bags and then they’ll get a service hour for it,” said Klein. “We, as the officers, will go to the teachers’ little cubbies that they have, and put the bags in there.”

The Key Club took their time planning out the Halloween Bags in order to make them the best that they could. They gave members certain roles and worked as a collective team where needed. “We came up with things to put in the goodie bags, and what officers would be in charge of what,” said Dong. “We ultimately gave the majority of the responsibility, in order to make all of this stuff for the teachers, to our own Key Clubbers so they would get service hours.”

Key Club decided to do this as a way to combine past projects and the projects they are currently promoting. “All of the Key Clubbers that decided to participate in this, they made Halloween bookmarks for the teachers to promote literacy,” said Dong. “We have a governor’s project that’s trying to promote literacy throughout the state, and those bookmarks are supposed to be a part of that project.”

The general reaction to the Halloween Bags is very good, as the teachers like what they are being given, and the students enjoy making them for them. “I think it’s fun, and I know the teachers enjoy it, so it’s a good way to give back for how much they do,” said Klein.

The members of the club all get along fairly well, and even when they don’t, they stay very respectful towards each other no matter what. They work hard towards their goal and don’t let anything else get in the way.

“The Key Clubbers really enjoy making this stuff for the teachers, because they get service hours, it makes someone else’s day, and it’s really motivating for the club,” said Dong. “We’re all a big family, and we always try our best to put in the most work possible in order to better our community.”

The Key Club members at Cape work very hard to stand out from other Key Clubs both in the area and all over the country. “This project really shows how selfless these Key Club members are and how much work they put into trying to help the club with its reputation, and the state of Florida,” said Dong.