PALS Club is focusing on making a difference
Natalie Tindle and Jasmin Chung are the sponsors of PALS.
February 16, 2022
The PALS (Peers and Leaders in Service) club at Hoffman is a community service club which looks for opportunities to volunteer locally and within the school. The goal of PALS is to bring people together and help others in need.
“We see a need and we fill it,” said Natalie Tindle, English department.
The club’s top events include the annual community Halloween event, the Spring Extravaganza and Hawk kits for the homeless. These events have all taken dedication from club and community members.
Hawk kits for the homeless, also referred to as “Blessings in a Bag”, is a system in which bags are filled with various items of necessity such as socks, hand sanitizer, soap, wipes, snacks, and more, then are given to the homeless.
A vital attribute to the Hawk kits for the homeless process is the man, sometimes called “sock man”, who provides the homeless with the kits that the PALS club constructs. A retired teacher from HEHS, he sold everything he owned, bought an RV, and now travels across the country to offer help to the homeless and other people in need.
“You know that people who join the club are good people, so when good people come together, good things happen,” said Jasmin Chung, English department.
In addition to simply being surrounded by good people and having a fun environment, PALS also provides a convenient way to get service hours for Harper’s Promise and other similar programs.
Chung and Tindle explained that during the pandemic, they struggled to find ways to help out like they normally would and had to stay local with their activities. Club members still tried their best to offer assistance and volunteer, but opportunities to do so were quite scarce at the peak of COVID. Now, though, the PALS club is back on track to assist the community as they did before.
The PALS club continues to make an effort to offer community service and participate in other events. “You just don’t realize your impact, even if you think it’s so small,” said Tindle. “We help because we care.”