Tori Newby ‘22

Helping Hands, a student-led community service organization, was founded by junior Anna Tovchigrechko at the start of the pandemic. Now, Helping Hands has over 100 members from several schools around Montgomery County. 

The first task the club undertook was a handmade cards project. Members were encouraged to make four greeting cards per week with uplifting messages, which were sent to various nursing homes nearby. “I knew that there are a lot of groups in our community that are often overlooked, and I wanted to help them in any way I could,” Anna said. After two months, the club had created and sent 223 cards. Round two of the handmade cards project began at the end of July, and only three weeks in, Helping Hands has already sent an additional 330 cards to nursing homes. 

Helping Hands plans to fundraise for Prison Fellowship for their next project. Prison Fellowship is a nonprofit that advocates for the rights and lives of the incarcerated, including more restorative approaches to justice. All fundraising will be done online, and more information can be found on Helping Hands’ website (thehelpinghands.club) or Instagram (@helpinghandssclub) as the project approaches. 

“The best part about being a member is the feeling that I’m making a change in someone’s life just by doing projects that I love to do,” explained Melissa Karwoski, a sophomore at Northwest.