The Cupid Project
This year, the National Honor Society (NHS) chapter here at Ike undertook a new project, led by community service chair Zabella Hickenbottom. After seeing an Instagram reel about something called the Cupid Project, she was instantly inspired to bring it to Eisenhower. “I just have such a big passion for giving back,” she says. Zabella is super involved in her community, and this project seemed like a perfect fit for the months of January and February as the main NHS community service project.
The Cupid Project is a nationwide nonprofit organization that makes Valentine’s Day cards for the elderly in nursing homes, who may not receive much love on the day of love. The Cupid Project encourages communities to do group community service projects and give some love to those who need it.
Hickenbottom brought up the Cupid Project with her advisor, Mr. Quesnell, who then urged her to involve the school. I admire the passion Zabella brought to this project. She immediately drafted an email for Mr. Quesnell to send out to staff, asking for any extra cardmaking supplies they may be able to spare. This was a huge success, bringing in enough supplies like markers, paper, and glue that the NHS didn’t have to spend any extra money. While this project started as a purely volunteer activity for the NHS, Zabella wanted a large amount of cards and wanted to involve as many of our community at Ike as possible. Flyers were posted on social media and passed out in classrooms, with some teachers offering extra credit to those who attended. The dates were set as Tuesday, January 20th and 27th in the commons, giving ample time for card-making before the task of delivering them to nursing homes.
When you arrived, there were papers, markers, colored pencils, scissors, glue, and stickers strewn across the tables in the commons. People created cards with care-filled messages, adding decorations and doodles while chatting with friends.
The project brought together a unique community at Ike and will impact a very important community in Yakima. The cards will be delivered on Thursday, January 12th, where Zabella hopes to “put a smile on their face and make them feel loved on a day everyone should.”
A big thank you to all who came out to support this project, or donated supplies, and a special thank you to Zabella for bringing more love into our community.
