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www.reachocf.org
REACH of Central Florida Annual Toy Drive By Karen Sun, Winter Park High School Coordinator - REACH
Now is the season of giving, and as a whole, REACH certainly did. REACH promoted its annual holiday toy drive for the Harbor House of Central Florida, an organization that provides a safe home for abused women and children. With ample help from various community members, we collected over 400 toys, 421 to be exact, which numbers more than last year! On December 19, REACH members visited the Harbor House to help the children and their mothers choose toys and accessories that they liked as well as play some Christmas music to help set the holiday spirit. It was gratifying to see the children pick up the toys they wanted and see how happy seemingly simple gifts made them. We can’t help but reflect on our own lives. We think that with more things like the latest Apple product, or video game comes happiness, but upon helping these families at the Harbor House, we have to remem-
ber to be thankful for what we have. As a community, we may perhaps underestimate what Harbor House does for the community, but it really does provide a wonderful service to victims of domestic abuse. As an organization, it really gives a lot to make sure that the families are safe, as well as comfortable and welcome. On behalf of REACH, I would like to thank the students from Winter Park High School, Cypress Creek High School, and University High School, as well as other Central Florida schools for helping to promote the toy drive and encouraging their peers to donate toys. I also would like to thank Asia Trend, Inc., CHARGE Dragon boat Team of Orlando, the Chinese School of CAACF, the Chinese America Association of Central Florida, Citrus Figure Skating club, and the Florida College of Integrative Medicine for participating
in this holiday toy drive. Also, to China Garden, Law Office of Agnes Chau, PA, Pauline Ho CPA Office, Winter Park High School’s Orchestra and Asian American Association, thank you for allowing REACH to leave boxes in your venues to collect toys for these children and their families. We appreciate all your support! Have a happy holiday! To know more about REACH, please visit www.reachocf.org. Karen Sun is currently a student in Winter Park High School’s International Baccalaureate Program. She is an active participant in several clubs at WPHS including Asian American Association, Beta Club, Tri-M, and Model UN. She enjoys playing violin (being in Winter Park’s Park Philharmonic makes her extremely happy) and reading books on some sort of science, though mainly chemistry. In the future, she plans on studying either biomedical engineering or biochemistry.
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