Members of  the Hispanic Helping Organization  created a toy donation for patients at the Children’s Ward at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring between December 16 and December 23, 2015.

The Hispanic Helping Organization also known as H2O started in our school in September 2013.  When it was founded, the club only focused on helping commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month in the school, and at for the last two years it was also in charge of organizing the Futsal Tournament.

H2O came up with the idea during a meeting to simply bring a bunch of small toys as gifts to donate to children at a the hospital.

“Donating gifts to the community for the holiday season was something H2O members, along with [Spanish teacher and H2O co-sponsor Daniel] Esteban and myself, have been planning and discussing since the start of the holiday season,” Spanish teacher and H2O sponsor Reina Flores said.

Spanish teacher and Second club supervisor, Daniel Esteban contacted the Pediatric Center at Holy Cross Hospital and arranged the donation for the members of H2O.

The members collected toys such as Barbie dolls, coloring books, stuffed animals and different small toys such as cars. They were responsible for wrapping them nicely a week before the donation.

Esteban dropped the gifts off for the members as only one person was allowed to drop them off at a time at the Holy Cross Hospital.

Senior H2O president Jeanellie Ludena was very proud and happy to give back to the community “[H2O members]  have been planning the donation for a very long time and when [the members] actually completed it felt good,” Ludena said.

“I feel very happy [H2O] members were able to do this,” Flores said. “We also feel extremely proud of the students for their commitment and dedication to helping the community out.”

“The members of H2O will continue coming up with many more ideas to [reach out] and [help out] to the community,” Flores added.