It only takes one person to make a difference. But when an entire team joins in to help, an even bigger impact can be made.

Seniors Hunter Sipel and Ethan Adelman and junior Isaac Braegelmann are baseball players at Penn Manor High School. For their service-learning project, they decided to volunteer their time to the Marine Toys for Tots program, which collects new Christmas toys for underprivileged children. Sipel chose Toys for Tots because his great-grandfather David Rineer was a Marine involved with the Toys for Tots program for many years. In addition, Isaac's brother, Ethan, is a Young Marine, and his mother, Mara, oversees the logistics of the program. Mara is responsible for the hundreds of volunteers needed to run the event starting in August and ending in January. She also buys, sorts, and organizes toys and promotes the program. With all this in mind, Sipel knew Toys for Tots would make for an excellent service-learning project.

The service-learning project replaced taking an elective course at Penn Manor. To fulfill project requirements, Sipel, Adelman, and Braegelmann each had to volunteer at least 80 hours during the fall semester. The boys volunteered about 40 hours alone during the week of toy distribution, Dec. 12 to 17, when they served as the main contacts for volunteers who had questions or needed assistance. Prior to this, they helped in many other ways, including attending events to promote Toys for Tots, dropping off and picking up donations, shopping for toys, sorting and packing toys, setting up tables, and counting and organizing toys in preparation for the event.

Fifteen players, two coaches, and 10 parents from the baseball team decided to join Sipel, Adelman, and Braegelmann on Dec. 13. They helped in many capacities, such as manning tables to help clients find wanted items, replenishing boxes of toys for the tables, bringing out bikes, carrying selected goods to clients' cars, and walking with clients to help them select and find desired toys.

"Those three boys were instrumental in the running of Toys for Tots this season; their teammates played a part as well," stated Mara. "It is always nice to work with a respectful group of young men who follow directions, take initiative, and work hard. They will be welcomed back next year."

Sipel, Adelman, and Braegelmann will finish their project in the coming weeks after leftover toys are inventoried and packed up and the warehouse is organized and closed for the season. They will write a reflection paper about their experience to complete their service-learning requirements.

Mara encourages other community members to help with Toys for Tots. "Volunteering provides people with a perfect opportunity to become closer to the community in which they live," said Mara. "By volunteering, we can learn to better understand the needs of our own community. We may become better equipped to recognize a need when it arrives, better equipped to show empathy, and maybe even better equipped to improve our community."

To learn more about Toys for Tots, visit http://www.toysfortots.org.