The cavernous room, with tables stacked high with gifts, food and clothes, dwarfed the handful of student leaders. On Tuesday, members of the Callaway Kids Bank Board of Directors gathered at Westminster College to help sort food for SERVE Inc.'s food baskets.
"We're basically here to help out as much as we can because everything they do is so good," said Jaclyn McMurty, senior in high school and chairman of the board. This is her second year participating in the program after serving as secretary last year.
Debbie LaRue, Callaway Bank vice president and director of the Callaway Kids Bank Program, explained how the board works.
Made up of high school students from the Fulton, South Callaway and North Callaway school districts, it serves as an opportunity to learn leadership skills. They help make decisions about the Callaway Kids Bank, where children can deposit money.
"We have officers and they conduct meetings in the same boardroom as the 'big' board," LaRue said.
She said the program looks fantastic on a resume or scholarship application.
"A couple of kids from each school sit on the board," said Jasmine Wiggins, a business teacher at South Callaway and advisor to the school's CKB board members.
Aside from learning valuable skills, volunteering is a tradition in the program.
"This is at least our fourteenth year doing Adopt A Family (through SERVE)," North Callaway adviser Reid Randolph said.
Usually the students just go on a shopping spree for the family they adopt with a certain budget, but this year they decided to stick around and help sort food as well.
"Our family this year has three sons," McMurty said. "We set aside x amount of money for each of the kids and a gift for the parents as well, so it's for the whole family."
The board members purchased a Scentsy candle, a gingerbread house kit and wrapping paper - so parents can see what the gifts are in advance and wrap them themselves - among other items.
"It's kind of a tradition for us to get bubble bath so the parents can have a nice quiet moment," LaRue said.
SERVE will be giving food baskets to about 200 families this year, and there's still plenty of work needed to get them ready.
"As you can see, it's a process," said Tina Hines, officer manager at SERVE. She gestured to the line of food-covered tables. "It has to be a well-oiled machine for it to flow."
On distribution day, SERVE plans on helping 75 families an hour. Additional volunteers are welcome at the Kent and Judith Mueller Student Center on Westminster's campus between today and Friday, and from Tuesday to Dec. 14.
In addition to adopting a family and volunteering time, the Callaway Bank presented a $2,500 check to SERVE.
"I worked at a soup kitchen SERVE did a couple years back," said board member James Hill. "It's kind of the satisfaction of helping others. At the end of the day, I always have food on my plate, so it's good making sure others have food on their plate."
Contact SERVE, Inc. at 573-642-6388 for more information about how to volunteer this holiday season.