Junior Maddie Butkovich will travel to Nicaragua again this summer for 7 days at the end of June. Each year, she travels with her family and a group of other volunteers from our area who bring resources to the Nicaraguan people, one’s who are desperately in need of life’s basics.

“I’m going to Nicaragua again at the end of June. Last year when I went, we were passing out clothes to people at the mission facility where we stayed, but then we ran out of clothes to give which was really sad,” Butkovich said.

As a National Honor Society (NHS) member, Butkovich decided to start a clothing drive at the school through the NHS platform in order to collect more items to take with her to Nicaragua.  Faculty, students, and staff are encouraged to bring in gently used clothes, shoes, or toys, and drop them off in Mr. Hahn or Mrs. Kopacz’s room in the social studies hallway.

“Since we ran out of necessary items on last year’s trip, I wanted to begin a clothing drive at the school to help spread awareness about how some of the Nicaraguan people don’t have resources like we do to get new clothes,” Butkovich said. “I want to bring more clothes down there this year so that we have extra; the giving part of it is so special.”

In order to make the greatest impact on those involved, Butkovich did explain that there is a process to determine who gets what so there is no confusion.

“Toward the end of our trip, we separate men’s, women’s, and children’s clothes on a long table, along with shoes and knickknacks, such as Virginia coffee mugs. The people of that mission facility then get in a line and go down the table to choose what they may need,” Butkovich explains. “It’s so relieving to see them smile once they’ve gotten something new.”

NHS members may earn points for donations through Thursday, May 31, although collections will last through Thursday, June 7.