Southern Local High School Lifeskills students Wyatt Hanes and Kayden Yoho are helping one local family enjoy their Thanksgiving by providing a meal with all the trimmings. The class used funds from the soft opening of their new Wigwam Cafe coffee shop and made a trip to the grocery store to purchase a turkey, sides, and items to make a pumpkin pie. Teacher Jessica Coleman said it not only exposed the youth to shopping and budgeting, but also to community service. (Submitted photo)

SALINEVILLE – The Southern Local High School Lifeskills class is showing its giving spirit by providing a Thanksgiving feast to a local family.

Lifeskills/Career-Based Interventions (CBI) teacher Jessica Coleman said her eight pupils raised money through their Wigwam Cafe coffee shop and headed to the grocery store, where they purchased a turkey and all of the trimmings for the dinner.

“We talk about life skills, grocery shopping, budgeting and being a good community member in class,” Coleman said. “I thought an outreach activity would be nice. I found a store list online and we took them for the groceries. The students did the orders and we took funds [from the cafe] to purchase ingredients for Thanksgiving. We will donate it to a family in need.”

Students acquired a full menu with a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, and sweet potatoes as well as all ingredients for a pumpkin pie. She said it was meaningful to her and her students and they were able to use proceeds from the cafe. The site sold goods during a parent-teacher conference and had test run on one day in October, and Coleman said the soft opening raised $260 to help support the food project.

In the meantime, her class is developing the coffee shop, which officially began operation on Nov. 21 during the high school lunch period.

“We hope to do it least once a month,” she commented. “We sell hot coffee, iced coffee, hot tea, iced refreshers and hot chocolate, as well as chocolate-covered pretzels and Oreos made by the kids.”

Future profits will be used to help sustain the cafe and possibly support other projects throughout the year.

“They are excited about it and really enjoy helping. They love working at the coffee shop and are very enthusiastic,” Coleman continued. “I think it will not only be a good experience with the dinner, but also just going to the store.”