The Eastern Regional High School Interact Club will again host a beloved community tradition with its breakfast with Santa event on Saturday, Dec. 6, from 10 a.m. to noon.
The gathering is open to local families and benefits The Center for Family Services, a township-based nonprofit that supports needy South Jersey families. This year marks the first time for the breakfast since COVID interrupted it several years ago. Activities will include pancakes, prizes and photos with Santa.
Interact Club advisor and English teacher Jacquelyn Mancinelli said reviving the tradition felt both timely and meaningful for the group’s students.
“We decided to revive it since it was the event our students enjoyed the most,” she explained. “This year, we chose to partner with The Center for Family Services located right here in Voorhees. We hope to gather as many toy donations as we can to support local families during this holiday season.”
In addition to collecting toys for the center’s holiday gift project, the Interact Club hopes the breakfast will demonstrate the nonprofit’s impact.
“We hope to raise awareness about the wonderful services of The Center for Family Services,” Mancinelli noted, “as well as the excellent work our students accomplish through their involvement in the Interact Club.”
For Mancinelli, the collaboration with the center aligns perfectly with the club’s teaching.
“The Interact Club focuses on community service and connecting our student members with our local community to build meaningful relationships,” she said. “Since The Center for Family Services helps local families and is always looking for donations for their annual holiday gift project, it was a perfect match.”
Beyond donating gifts, the students have invited families from the center to attend the breakfast, reinforcing the club’s core mission.
“Through this partnership, our students are learning more about how to make a genuine impact in the community,” Mancinelli pointed out, “possibly among their very own neighbors, to make this holiday season a little happier for everyone.”
This year’s club officers took charge of organizing the event from start to finish, designing flyers and social media graphics; creating an online toy wish list; writing donation letters; visiting businesses; and planning activities, prizes and décor.
“The goal is to teach (students) how community service isn’t just showing up to an event for a few hours, it’s all of the planning work that goes into it that nonprofits and other organizations truly need help to accomplish,” Mancinelli related.
“It was very rewarding to see the students step outside of their comfort zones to accomplish meaningful tasks to make the event a success.”
Kaeya Cheulkar, an 11th-grade Interact Club officer, played a key role in building the online wish list, designing posters to spread the word and planning kids’ activities for the breakfast. She emphasized why supporting the center matters to her personally.
“We want to create a spirit of giving within our school club and our school community overall,” she said. “I think collecting donations can help students feel a better connection to the people they help, as they can see and understand what a gift might mean to someone.”
Fellow club officer and senior Viha Vijayapuri shared her excitement about designing the promotional flyer.
“I love the holiday season,” she related, “and I was excited at the idea of bringing this event back and having our flyer help us get more people to come. I was also looking forward to decorating and making it feel magical for the kids.”
For Vijayapuri, the donation drive reflects the spirit of compassion the club hopes to foster.
“I really enjoy helping people and making them happy, especially kids,” she offered. “I think every child deserves to experience the joy of opening a present around the holiday season. This was our opportunity to help make that happen on a larger scale.
“I hope families and children take away that it’s so easy to make a change in someone else’s life,” she added of the breakfast. “I also hope they understand the importance of giving back and feel fulfilled by helping others.”
