Chasen Shao ‘15
Assistant Editor in Chief

Christmas time is commonly a time of holiday full of cheer and fun in the snow. However, in addition to these superficial appearances this holiday season, Christmas is also a time for giving. It is a time not only to give to the children in our life but also to those outside of our life. The Cherry Hill West Hispanic Community does just that by contributing to the holiday spirit and giving gifts to the needy community in Camden. The Spanish Club here at West is donating annually to the day care center called Mi Casita for needy children.
Mi Casita is a local day care center in Camden for those Hispanic and African American children whose parents have minimum wage jobs and are experiencing financial trouble. This free day care gives the kids a place to stay. It coordinately provides an early education in addition to regular meals. The Cherry Hill West Hispanic Community makes the holiday a better experience for those special children by giving them gifts and making it a warmer Christmas Holiday.
The Spanish Club collects donations of clothing and money to make gifts for the needy children. In general, the Mi Casita day care center is in need of clothing during these winter months and looks to the Cherry Hill West community to donate to these children in the form of gifts. In this program, many Cherry Hill West students, especially members of the Spanish Club, help to collect gifts. Some staff members in the West community including Guidance Counselors and many other teachers pitch in to donate a wide variety of gifts for all the children at the day dare.
However, in some situations, a complete set of clothing is needed if that particular child’s family is going through a financially difficult time. In these scenarios, sponsors are needed to supply the full set of clothing for specific children. Money can also be donated in these cases, and their respective outfits will be bought by the members in the Mi Casita program.
When the Mi Casita party arrives, members participating in the program dress up in Santa Claus outfits. They go to these gifts for the 4 and 5 year-old children at the day care. The students who are in the Spanish Club get together and give the gifts to the Mi Casita Day Care. When they arrive at the center, the students from West are led to a large lobby where they wait for the children from the daycare to come up and receive their gifts. For many students at West, this is a very exciting experience to use the language and to learn first hand the merits of giving back to the community. Señora Rivas-Mintz brings her children to this event every year and recalls it being, “A fun experience for everyone.”
In the recent years, there have been a number of changes to the Mi Casita event. In the range of event organizers, Señora Rios has been a recent member who joined last year here at Cherry Hill West, Señora Rios is well known for her talents on guitar, previously show cased during the world language day festival last January. During last December trip to the Mi Casita day care center, Señora Rios brought her talent to the children when she sang many traditional Hispanic songs on her guitar, such as Alegre Venga.
To many of the kids, the event is wondrous in itself. It provides many heartwarming experiences that both the students from West and the children at Mi Casita enjoy. In fact, Señora Rivas-Mintz told me that “some of my students ask me in the first month of school about the event. Their excitement is unparalleled.”
The experience is both enlightening and fun as many of the members of the club sit in a big room and wait for the children to come up with exuberance to receive their gifts. As coordinator Sr. De Faria said, “It’s like a zoo.” And indeed it is. Many students feel similar excitement as they share the great experience with their fellow Santa Clauses to ring in the holiday cheer. In fact, in the previous year, Junior Ricardo Duran dressed as Santa Clausefor these children at the day care center.
This program allows for members to realize the merits of giving back to their community. They realize the simple joys these young children have for such items that we generally take for granted. This program fosters the hope in West students of all they can do to ameliorate similar situations globally for a better future. It teaches the West students to give back to a community.
The Mi Casita trip each year brings new memories for the students here at West that will stick with them for years. They realize that the trip has taught them that giving back to their community is far more than just giving, it is a life-time experience for them to remember and to share with family and with our West community tomorrow. The students going on the trip this year expect no difference. They expect, as they have in years past, to come back changed—ready to influence the world in positive ways for the years ahead.