It is the holiday season and with it comes the countless charities and drives popping up everywhere from your school to your local Walmart. What does Perry do to make its mark and is it enough?

Giving back is undeniably the Samaritan thing to do. Donating helps to benefit an organization and simultaneously provide the donors with a sense of goodwill.

Plancorp, an organization that discusses financial affairs, says in an article, “Many people prefer “in-kind,” or tangible, donations.” But is this act of donating as helpful as it seems?

Yes, but not completely.

Around this time of year Perry hosts the Emery Bear Drive and about 14 clubs “adopt a family.” Both fantastic are causes.

Who wouldn’t want to donate a stuffed animal to make a child, stuck in a hospital, a bit cheerier? Who wouldn’t want to make a child in a low income household smile when they receive a gift they thought they would not receive?

Clearly without question, these charities are altruistic and fruitful but they are not as advantageous as money offerings.

“By donating cash instead of an item, you empower charities to allocate funds when and where they’re needed most,” Plancorp reports. Exemplifying the fact that donation drives calling for money are more beneficial.

Perry is no stranger to these types of drives. In fact Perry holds these drives throughout the entire school year for instance the coin drive for the American Heart Association and the famous “Make a Wish” fundraiser.

“I think every year we kinda go ‘how can we make it [Perry’s fundraisers] better?’,” said Nancy Martino, the Administrative Secretary for Assistant Principal Kevin Ames. Martino as well as Ames and Principal Serrano, all come to the consensus that Perry tries its best to make an impact.

It comes as no surprise that Perry is successful in its fundraisers since countless hours and hard work are put in by students and clubs to make it happen.

However, with all these clubs coming together with “Adopt a Family” and their own individual charity events, why are they not “out” more?

“The behind the scenes work required for this type of Fundraiser is tremendous,” Ames said. But clearly many clubs muster up the effort, why are not all seemingly receiving campus wide attention like StuGo?

Mrs.Martino believes it has more do with StuGo being student body oriented while clubs tend to stay in their own communities.

There’s nothing wrong with some clubs wanting to say within their communities, many of their charities do well as is, but they could do more if they extended to the over 3,500 students on campus. And with wanting to improve upon Perry’s success, maybe it’s like Mrs.Martino said, “Maybe that’s growth. Maybe that’s what we do next.”