WALTHER LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT LEADERS MODEL SERVICE

Walther Lutheran High School has renewed and elevated a focus on service, both by individual students and by the entire Walther community. Walther’s chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS) is actively setting an example and encouraging students, teachers, families and friends to make a difference in the world around them. The group’s current projects are geared toward cheering up hospitalized children and donating blood.

Fans are encouraged to be on the look out for NHS members at Walther’s home basketball games in January. The National Honor Society is collecting cash donations for the annual Baskets of Love project. Walther students have also pledged their January chapel offerings to support this project. Funds raised are used to purchase items for children who are in the hospital around Valentine’s Day. Crayons, note pads, toiletries, small toys and stuffed animals are some of the things the students will buy and assemble in baskets to distribute at Ronald McDonald Children’s Hospital of Loyola, Shriners Hospitals for Children - Chicago, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital and Westlake Hospital (both in Melrose Park).

Senior NHS member Cassie Slechta of Berwyn is excited to be involved in Baskets of Love. She said, “I’ve come to learn that the smallest act of kindness can make the greatest difference in a person’s life, especially the life of a child.” Katlyn Dean, a senior from Batavia, agreed; “It’s a lot of fun to see the look on their faces when they get the baskets,” she emphasized, “and we don’t realize how lucky we are to be able do the things we do, instead of being confined to a hospital bed.” Junior David Tuomi from Wheaton explained, “It really makes me feel great to be helping these children who aren’t doing so well…I’m sure these baskets will make their day.”

NHS will be collecting money for this project at the remaining Walther home basketball games this month. Games are on Friday, January 25, Saturday, January 26 and Tuesday, January 29, with the varsity boys’ tip off at 7:30 p.m. each evening. Contributions will also be received in the Administration Office weekdays between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

On Friday, February 29, Walther’s National Honor Society hosts the annual blood drive, from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Students age 18 and over; students age 16 and 17 with parental permission; parents, friends, faculty and staff will be donating. Walk-in donors are welcomed.

“Every time you give blood, up to three lives could be saved,” said Lori Solyom, a Walther staff member who donated blood at last year’s drive. “The idea that an hour or less of downtime from me could result in the gift of life for someone else is really humbling,” she explained.

Service at Walther is certainly not limited to the National Honor Society. Already this school year, the student council led the school in a drive that collected over 4,000 non-perishable food items for the annual pre-Thanksgiving food drive. Each homeroom “adopted” a needy child to provide gifts to through locally-based Hope, Inc. and the entire school participated in a community clean-up on the first day of Homecoming Spirit Week in October. Smaller scale projects have included weekly visits to Bethel Lutheran Church in Chicago where students have helped staff a neighborhood center that provides recreation, basic computer training and other outreach to the community, help with worship services and dinners at local churches and assistance with sports camps, clinics and retreats for grade school and middle school kids. Walther annually takes groups of students to staff an aide station at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon and to participate in the Proviso Area Crop Walk to Stop Hunger.

Walther Lutheran High School is a co-educational Christian school located at 9th and Chicago in Melrose Park. The school has an enrollment of just over 400 students from fifty-seven different Chicago area zip codes. For more information about Walther Lutheran High School, call 708.344.0404 or visit Walther.com.

Press Release contact: Lori Solyom, Public Information Coordinator