With all the holidays taking place, winter is certainly the time for giving. Spending money or time on others, whether it’s family and friends or the less fortunate in the community, can improve the happiness of everyone.

Riverbend offers many opportunities for students to help out in the community during the holiday season. During Thanksgiving time, RHS put on a canned food drive in order to feed those that would not necessarily have had a Thanksgiving meal otherwise. As a school we donated 2,321 lbs of food to the Fredericksburg Food Bank. For the December holidays, Riverbend’s Math Honor Society has been putting on a sock drive to give new socks to the less fortunate.  There is also a Holiday Hope Tree located in the guidance office to collect gifts for 100 families in need of gifts this holiday season.

Students and teachers are actively participating in seasonal giving. “I truly believe that it is better to give than receive and when I give it brings me great joy. I always give my family gifts and I’ll be giving my students the gift of song. I’m also giving to local pet shelters this year,” said Dr. Young, a biology teacher. Kyle Traber, a sophomore, said, “This year my family discussed giving back to the community by ringing the bell for The Salvation Army donations.”

Students and teachers at Riverbend have multiple opportunities to donate this holiday season in the school alone, in addition to many more in the community. For information on helping out in the Fredericksburg area this holiday season, visit fredericksburgva.gov and look under Holiday Giving Programs.