The National Honors Society (NHS) is about helping out communities.  Whether that be school demographics, local communities, or as a part of a national effort. Wherever NHS can help, they help.

One example of this was on Thursday, Sep. 14. Members in NHS helped put “puff paint” on the bottom of socks for hospital patients. The paint on the bottom of the socks will help patients, including children and elders, not slip and fall.

Small but important efforts such as this one helps out the local community. However, whenever there is a major national need or crisis, NHS is there to help.

Over the past month, southern U.S. states have seen an usual amount of extreme weather. There has been two major hurricanes to hit the U.S. in this small time frame. The two hurricanes are Category 4 Hurricane Harvey and Category 4 Hurricane Irma. Before Irma hit the U.S. it was classified as a Category 5 hurricane but was weakened after it hit Cuba.

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma severely damaged southeastern Texas (particularly Houston) and all of Florida respectively. The damage done has sprawled up a web of organizations, non-profit or profit, willing to help out the victims. Celebrities, companies, and common people alike are banding together in order to either monetarily or physically help out those in need. Shawnee Mission West’s NHS is no different.

In an effort to show their support, NHS started a donation that anyone in the local community could donate to. The donation was particularly aimed at parents and high school students.

Before Hurricane Irma hit Florida and after Harvey hit Houston, NHS had a “donation week”. They made several announcements throughout the week advertising the donation fund.

To make it interactive, they got four teachers involved who said they would be willing to be pied in the face if they/a grade level rose the least amount of money. NHS officers and members also went to the Sep. 8 home football game against Leavenworth and made an announcement to the crowd. They walked around the stadium and collected donations.

Hurricane Irma hit Florida the weekend after they collected donations for Harvey. In response to this, they decided to do the same thing they did the week prior. They also asked other organizations throughout Shawnee Mission West to help collect donations.

On Sep. 15, NHS stopped collecting donations and started counting how much they managed to raise. As of this article’s publishing, the exact number is still unknown as they are finishing up counting and consolidating the donations.

NHS sponsor Amanda Sherraden has a good estimate. She predicts that the number will be roughly $1000. It may be a little less or a little more, but it will get close to that amount. They plan on splitting up the money to a variety of different organizations in order to maximize the amount of people they can reach.