PORT BYRON #- Dr. Linda Townsend, a global studies teacher and student government advisor at Dana L. West High School in Port Byron often spent part of the holiday season with a singing group outside of school, visiting local nursing homes to perform Christmas carols.

When the director of the group passed away, the group disbanded, but Townsend still heard back from the homes, and quite often the responses she was getting were voices telling her that without the singing group there just wasn't the same Christmas spirit and cheer as there once was.

This inspired Townsend to rally together her students as well as members of student government for a new project that would bring some holiday joy to these senior communities.

For the past several weeks students have been hard at work on a Christmas card campaign.

“I wanted to do something that the students could really get involved in,” Townsend said. “This is a great project. It promotes a sense of community and it promotes writing, but it really shares the spirit of the season and it brings a lot of personal joy to the kids as they write the cards.”

This has been a project that the students have eagerly embraced.

“It's for a great cause,” Casey Derby, 14, said. “And it is a lot of fun, too. You get the satisfaction of knowing that what you are doing is going to help make someone else happy and that's a really nice feeling.”

With money raised by the student government, the group has been able to purchase Christmas cards, approximately 800 of which Townsend said have already been filled out and are scheduled to begin delivery to places like Mercy Health & Rehabilitation Center, Auburn Nursing Home and the Cayuga County Nursing Home next week.

Townsend said that she has seen the students take a very proactive role in the creation of these cards, going above and beyond with specialized inscriptions and drawings.

“The students have shared things like their Christmas hopes,” Townsend said. “Some of them include drawings. It is a small thing, but it is the season of giving and this is one way for them to give a little back to the community.”

Even though many of the students have written and enveloped more than 100 cards a piece, their enthusiasm has not waned one bit.

“You just try to make everyone different,” Cassi Beaulieu, 14, said. “You just wish them a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, but you try to make each one different and just think about how happy they are going to be to have a card to open and just know that someone is thinking about them and that helps a lot.”

High school principal Shawn Bissetta said he has been impressed with the outpouring of support for this project, that has grown to encompass much of the student body.

“I think it is a great example of how hard our students work to be able to give something and be a part of their community,” Bissetta said. “And I think it has been a great learning experience for the kids. Anytime you can combine those two things I think it is a great learning experience for the kids. It is a real experience and they are involved with other people that makes for the best education.”

From Bissetta to Townsend to the students, everyone hopes that this is a project that will continue and become a part of the holiday fabric at Dana L. West high school.

“I hope it keeps going,” Erika Green, 14, said. “It is something the whole school can be a part of not just one part of it. But just knowing that there are older people out there who don't have other family and don't get cards, knowing that we can do something that can brighten their day that is something special.”