FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Teens’ Club Lends Hand to the Needy

Jonathan Dao says he and many of his high school peers take for granted that they have a house to live in, a bed to sleep on and food on the table to eat.

Others are not so lucky, he said. “They don’t have anything.”

The 14-year-old freshman at Fountain Valley High School has decided to help others who are less fortunate. “I always see homeless people on the streets and I feel sorry for them,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to help them.”

He and his classmates have made that commitment by being involved in STOP--Students and Teachers Opposing Poverty--a campus club whose goal is to help the homeless and the poor.

Mary Ho, 16, president of the 40-member club, said the group raises money by selling pizza during school events or holding coin drives. Proceeds are donated to organizations that assist the homeless.

This week, members held a canned-goods drive and urged their classmates to donate items to feed the hungry. Students also collect books and clothing to donate to shelters.

Club members also volunteer in the community at food distribution centers, where they pack food boxes that are given to the needy. Once a week, they also visit Thomas House Temporary Shelter in Garden Grove, where they befriend the children and spend time teaching arts and crafts, reading books or helping with homework.

Mary, a senior, said it is rewarding to be involved in the club. Her older sister, Ky, a graduate, started the club two years ago at the school. “I feel like I’m doing something meaningful,” Mary said.

Sally Epley, the teacher adviser, said that the youths get a realistic view of their community by getting involved in such social issues. “I think kids need to be aware of the problems in the world and be involved in community service. . . . It gives them a chance to do for others,” Epley said, adding that it serves as a real-life lesson and an eye-opener.

“They learn how to organize and work together to try and solve problems, or at least help,” she said. “They learn about the injustices and it changes their attitudes about people who haven’t had the chances they have had.”

Because club members have opened their hearts and minds, they in turn have become role models for the homeless children, said Sister Kathy Stein, program director at Thomas House Temporary Shelter.

She said the children look up to their older peers and gain a sense of “what education can do for them too.”

Stein also said she hopes the students will not forget their visits after graduation and that the payoff is knowing they have helped someone else.

“It teaches the high school student that there are other ways of giving besides giving money,” she said. “And that sharing their time and their talents with other people is a very important way of giving.”