With the ending of the Mary M Knight gift drive, many of ASB’s members feel that it was a huge success. However, as this drive was very important and the duration of it spanned over the entire month of November, there were bound to be many challenges along the way. And while most challenges were miniscule, some of these challenges caused the committee massive complications.
Every gift box was delegated to each individual student while also containing basic necessities like clothing, shoes, and a toy, the communication behind the scenes turned out to be more stressful than anticipated.
Sravya Marina had just joined ASB this year but took on the big task of leading and overseeing the gift drive. And while she believes that the gift drive was beneficial for everyone involved, she believes the results and outcome could have been a lot smoother.
“There were still teachers with empty boxes, but because of the contingency plan, we met our goal, but not in the way we wanted,” said Sravya.
When first announced, the gift drive assigned 1 or 2 boxes to each classroom teacher. However due to factors such as classroom size and student incentive, some teachers filled up boxes too quickly, while others could not fill them up at all, which was the main problem Sravya and ASB faced.
However, the contingency plan allowed ASB to use extra money donated to be spent on the items for the kids. And after a hectic shopping session, all the boxes ended up being filled by the end date of the drive.
By packing day, there were still a couple challenges that remained, as packing up all the boxes and double checking everything had created even more problems. And while the final days of the gift drive seemed to go accordingly, the event was taxing on both Sravya and the rest of the students.“It was a relief because there was 112 boxes, 112 students. It was really stressful at first, I wanted to make sure every student was accounted for. Every student has a different size, style, preference.” said Sravya
While the conclusion of the gift drive had somewhat of a rocky ending, the overall outcome still remains very positive as each student eventually received all their gifts. It is without a doubt that despite the many obstacles, ASB and the Skyline community delivered and demolished the set goal.
“It has been VERY successful… we have well over exceeded the amount and used that excess money to fill all the boxes in the classrooms that had not been filled… We were on track to fill every box and purchase every hoodie.” said ASB’s president Arjun Mandadi.
Leading into the next school year, ASB has even bigger plans for what they want to do. Arjun not only has plans to benefit more of the school, but also to reach out to different schools and have the annual gift drive done for them.
“I think that next year, because of the success of this year, we can expand it to include the teachers (and faculty) and their classroom needs.”