Students and staff at Charles F. Patton Middle School collected new, unused, unwrapped gifts for people of all ages as part of their annual holiday Giving Tree program. The Giving Tree program has been a Patton school tradition for over 20 years. The nearly 1,000 gifts collected this year were delivered to the New Garden Township Building on Thursday, Dec. 12. There they will be distributed to families in need of some extra holiday cheer this season.

While at the township building, Patton students also helped fill 600 food boxes in preparation for the Kennett Area Community Services’ Christmas charity event on Saturday, Dec. 14. Families in need of a little help this holiday season are invited to attend the event, choose gifts from the hundreds of donations, and take home a box of donated canned and fresh food.

The annual district-wide coat and bike drives, organized by the UHS PTO, collected hundreds of warm coats and bicycles for families to “shop” from on Saturday.  Families will be able to pick out a warm coat and take home a refurbished bike collected and prepared for them by the U-CF community. 

The Technology and Engineering Students Association at Unionville High School handcrafted wooden dinosaur toys that will also be available at the event. Students worked on the toys during their technology and engineering classes as well as after school and during Lunch and Learn. It is a great example of students applying what they have learned in class to give back to the local community.

All donations go through the Kennett Area Community Services which provides temporary assistance for families in the Kennett, Unionville-Chadds Ford, and Avon Grove school districts who need food, clothing, lodging, heat or rent.