OAK PARK : Students Take Food, Clothing to Indians

Every year, students at Oak View High School in Oak Park collect food and clothing to give to American Indians for Christmas. This year, two of the school’s 47 students personally delivered the gifts at a Navajo reservation in Arizona.

Principal Lawrence Misel said the continuation high school students, many of whom have a history of problems at home or school, may feel a particular affinity for American Indians.

The students seem to identify with American Indians and the “idea that society hasn’t treated them real well,” Misel said. “I think some of these kids feel victimized by the same sort of things.”

Students Kirk Holguin, 16, and Michael Rosado, 17, left early Thursday for the 12-hour drive to the reservation. The boys drove Michael’s van, which was packed with items ranging from canned corn to baby clothes, to distribute the gifts over the weekend. They plan to return on Christmas Eve. Kirk’s mother went along in another car.

Kirk, who has American Indian relatives, said he and his mother often visit friends on the reservation. But this is the first time that they brought goods collected at Kirk’s school. In previous years, Oak View students gave their donations to local American Indian agencies, Misel said.

Michael said that after Kirk volunteered to personally distribute the gifts, he decided that he wanted to see for himself the people who Kirk often talks about.

Many of the students said Kirk’s stories about the plight of American Indians motivated them to collect the canned goods and clothing.

“He just told us about the situation on the reservation,” said 15-year-old Aviva Libitsky, who brought bags of old clothes to the school. “They don’t have clothes to wear. They don’t have things to eat.”