When Life Gives You Lemons: LEO Club's Delicious Donation
By Evan Heins --- Photography Editor
Clubs are an essential part of FCHS and one of those clubs is LEO, a junior version of the Lions Club of America. The Lions help their respective communities by doing community service. They have local chapters in Rocky Mount, Westlake, and Ferrum.
Recently, LEO Club made a donation of baked goods to the non-profit organization Young Life. The donation included fried apple pies, peanut butter fudge, pumpkin spice rice krispies, and blueberry muffins. All of the baked goods were made by LEO Club members.
Originally, LEO members had planned to have a bake sale to raise club funds at the first home football game. When that didn’t work out, club leaders decided not to let the food go to waste and instead sought a local organization in need of snacks.
Initially they wanted to donate to local food banks in Rocky Mount, but unfortunately they were all closed. That's when club leaders thought of Young Life, another off-campus club many of their members belong to.
Young Life seeks to support students' spiritual life and growth through fellowship, study, and service. It specifically focuses on teaching high school students more about Christianity, but they welcome any religion. Club meetings often involve singing pop songs and playing games that are as fun as they are competitive. Afterwards, everyone sits down and one of the several leaders shares an experience about their connection to Christianity.
Perhaps Young Life could make use of the snacks at a meeting or event? Coordinator Holly Zabloski was contacted. Amazingly, the timing was perfect: Donor Gratitude Night was coming up fast.
“The desserts were a big hit at our Donor Gratitude Night and added to the celebration atmosphere. It was a real blessing and showed our donors a glimpse into the meaningful and purpose-filled lives of the teens we serve,” said Zabloski.
Young Life was super appreciative for the donation from LEO Club and now LEO is looking at possibly being able to help them out again. “The LEO Club is a picture of what we at Young Life have discovered teens are seeking: meaning-making and the desire to impact their community for the better,” explained Zabloski.