From Sept. 26 to Oct. 12, Irvington LEO Club held their first service event of the year, Leo’s Cards for Healthcare Workers. LEO clubs in the Fremont Unified School District competed with each other, and the school making the most cards wins. 

The purpose of this event was to thank frontline workers who work in high-risk areas like hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Because of COVID-19, a lot of us wanted to thank the frontline workers and healthcare workers who were working during the pandemic,” said Kaitlyn Chen (12), co-president of Irvington LEO. “So we thought that it was a nice gesture to make cards for them so that they knew that they were appreciated.”

The students had approximately two weeks to make their thank-you cards. For each card, a student could earn 0.5 hours of service and up to five hours total. They then dropped off their cards at an officer’s house or their school during an allocated time. Each school’s LEO officer team counted the cards before delivering them to Washington Hospital, where they were given to healthcare workers. 

Since this was LEO’s first individual event without any in-person activity, Leo officers felt concerned about member engagement.

 “At first, we were worried how big [the] turnout would be,” said Chen. “Because this is during a pandemic, a lot of people might not want to participate in events that they can’t be in person with.” 

Despite this, the event had an impressive turnout of around 45 people. Irvington’s Leo Club is currently leading in the contest with a grand total of 260 cards donated. 

Students participated not only to thank frontline workers but also for their personal enjoyment. 

“I got to draw and color, which I liked doing, and it was a stress relief,” said Aboli Thosar (10), a participant from Irvington’s LEO Club. “I also liked that the cards were supporting a good cause.” 

All in all, Leo’s successful Cards for Healthcare Workers event engaged many high school students throughout the district and showed appreciation to the community’s health care heroes. In the future, Irvington LEO Club hopes to collaborate and communicate with the other Fremont LEO clubs for more service events.