During the holiday season, Juanita High School freshman JD Worcester made a commitment. While most teenagers were busy making their lists of what they wanted for Christmas, he focus was on giving.

Dubbed ‘The Second Avenue Project,’ Worcester and a handful of friends and Interact Club classmates spent their time putting up posters throughout the community and collecting supplies. These goods were earmarked for delivery to the ‘Camp Unity’ tent city at Kirkland’s Holy Spirit Lutheran Church.

Rather than providing food, their focus was on toiletries such as razors, shampoo, soap, deodorant and toothbrushes. Worcester stood outside Safeway on a Sunday in mid-December distributing a list of suggested needs to customers and their response was overwhelming, to the point where the store was completely cleaned out of many of the travel-size items.

Worcester and friends collected five shopping carts of donations. These goods were then taken back to the high school where they were sorted into a dozen boxes, which were delivered on Friday the Dec. 19.

The feedback from Tent City was quite positive, as the items and the timing of their arrival helped to make the season that much more special. Worcester is already making plans to make this an annual Interact Club event.