Key Club members Garrett Green, Ryland Kirk and Alex Cole pick out gifts for needy children as part of a Toys for Tots shopping spree team at Toy “R”Us in Huntsville.

In the few, short months since school started, Clements High School’s Key Club members have taken on poverty, fed the hungry, collected toys for needy children and sent $7,000 worth of shoes and socks to Hurricane Harvey victims in the Houston, Texas, area. And that’s just the short list.

The 60-member-strong group represents the only Key Club in the county and has steadily added to their ranks over their three-year history. Sponsored by history teachers Troy Rogers and Britt Thompson, the student-led club has established a reputation in their community as competent, giving volunteers.

Athens Main Street, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Downtown Rescue Mission in Huntsville and Toys for Tots regularly turn to the Key Club when they need help.

In addition to the massive tennis shoe drive the kids initiated after watching footage of Hurricane Harvey-devastated Texas, the group has worked closely with the Downtown Rescue Mission to serve hot lunches and pack Thanksgiving food boxes.

“Through their work at the Mission, our kids see that they can make the difference in the lives of people who really have little or nothing,” Thompson said.

Key Club members also traveled to the Huntsville mission to take part in their Living Nativity production before Christmas. As tour guides, they ushered families from room to room while live actors told the story of the birth of Jesus.

At the end, they helped pass out bags of toys to the children who had come to the program.

“These types of things help build leadership in the kids and give them a sense of compassion for those in our community who need us the most,” Thompson added.

Helping children in need was one of the club’s central goals this year. In addition to to their work with children at the Mission, the Key Club supplied five of the six teams that shopped at the Huntsville Toys “R” Us for the Marine’s Toys for Tots drive.

The group also collected $800 and enough new toys to provide every child at Blue Springs Elementary with a Christmas gift. Blue Springs serves as a feeder school for Clements.

“Our kids want to close the chasm between the grade school and high school by showing the children at Blue Springs that they are loved and cared for,” Rogers said. “We want them to know that coming to Clements will be a good experience, and perhaps some of them may want to get involved in Key Club themselves one day.”

Key Club members also volunteered at the Athens Grease Festivals, served breakfast to veterans after the school’s Veterans Day program, sold hamburger plate lunches at the Rogersville Kiwanis Hamburger Day drive and helped conduct tours at a community day hosted by TVA at Brown’s Ferry Nuclear Plant.

Rogers said that although the club started off a little “helter-skelter,” the group has made “tremendous progress” in the last few years.

“Our kids have come together in an amazing way,” he added. “Their actions let our community know that teenagers are not aloof or only concerned about themselves but rather have a lot to offer.”

Rogers said the club’s spring schedule is already filling up. Around Valentine’s Day, they plan to spend time with the residents at a couple of local assisted living centers. They will volunteer at Athens Main Street’s upcoming Chocolate Walk and participate in the annual Empty Bowls project luncheon at the First Presbyterian Church’s Revival Building in April.

He also anticipates that at least 10 of his students will be eligible for a Kiwanis-sponsored scholarship after racking up 50 hours of volunteer work during the 2017-2018 school year.