We have many kind, thoughtful, and creative people in this world. 8th grader Alyssa Wiitanen is one of them. During this school year, Alyssa had a goal to get “100 hours of community service,” as she said. Yet, that isn’t all of Alyssa’s goal; her goal is to also make people happy and provide warmth and comfort to them. Alyssa pursued that goal by crocheting scarves for the OC Hospice. However, she could not meet her goal without a website she stumbled across, which she said was “Volunteermatch.org.”

After she found this website, she entered her interests and saw her options. Alyssa saw that she could make scarves for the OC hospice and donate them to the people there. However, Alyssa couldn’t do this alone. She had support from her mom and supporters that donated to her to continue her hard work and commitment. This was in response to a social media post from her mom explaining what she was pursuing. She raised 100 dollars!                                      

How did Alyssa learn how to crochet? Alyssa said with a smile, “My grandma taught me how to crochet; she also makes porcelain dolls!” Since Alyssa learned how to crochet, she applied her creative skills to make these awesome, beautiful scarves.

Luckily, Alyssa achieved her goal of making people happy and also 105 hours of community service! This wasn’t an easy community service opportunity. It took very hard work and commitment. Alyssa didn’t have to choose such a difficult project, but luckily she did because she was the perfect fit for it. Alyssa spent countless hours making scarves and donated 32 scarves in total. Now the people she donated to will cherish this kind gesture for the rest of their lives. Alyssa should be proud of herself because the work she’s done has been phenomenal, and she has changed people’s lives for the better.