Members of the FUHS National Honors Society began their Thanksgiving break by participating in Operation Gratitude, a service project giving back to soldiers serving for the country, on Nov. 17.

The President of NHS, senior Brittany Ruiz, explained the perks of offering the service project to the members.

“Operation Gratitude is a project the club does annually to help our soldiers [overseas],” Ruiz said. “It’s for a good cause and since our club is so big it’s always great to see members participating and actively engaging and wanting to help others.”

Members split into groups to create care packages of travel sized necessities. Once the items were bagged, students wrote letters to the receiver of each package, thanking them for their military service.

This year, many NHS members participated. “We actually got a lot of donations, which is always great,” Ruiz said.

Many members had different reasons for participating in Operation Gratitude. Junior Gracelynn Basas liked how volunteering benefitted both her and other people.  

“When I heard about the opportunity through NHS about Operation Gratitude I thought it was a great way to connect with the soldiers,” Basas said. “It’s a nice give-and-receive kind of thing when it comes to volunteering.”

Operation Gratitude also helped Basas realize the importance of family.

“Soldiers don’t necessarily have the pleasure of being with their families through the holidays,” Basas said. “Knowing that I can be with my family, that’s a great thing.”

Junior Allie Spidell simply liked helping those in need.  

“I just really like helping people, and I know that the soldiers that we’re sending the items to probably don’t get that much stuff, so I just thought that it’d be a nice gift for them,” Spidell said.

The NHS program gives students the opportunity to connect with their community through a variety of ways.

Junior Anna Grantham also likes how NHS engages its members.

“It’s nice with NHS because you are given a lot of opportunities to participate in community service and it’s not something that you have to seek out yourself,” Grantham said.

NHS gives students the chance to do something enjoyable while also giving back, bringing light to the true meaning of the holiday season.