Key Club during leaf rake. Picture taken by Amy Gosney.
The Key Club is a student-run organization at South Salem High School. They partner with the Salem branch of Kiwanis, an international volunteer-based organization that gives back to the community. The Key Club at South Salem High School has been around for over twenty years. The club’s advisor, Amy Gosney, was a Key Club president at South before she graduated in 2004.
“We do not collect keys. What we do is we provide a platform of opportunities that students can promote, giving back to the community and volunteering. And so Key Club itself has certain international organizations that we like to partner with,” Gosney said.
Supporting Communities One Step at a Time
Key Club partners with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in African countries to help support those who cannot afford things like school supplies. Additionally, the Thirst Project helps provide water to countries that suffer from water scarcity. South’s Key Club focuses on the local communities in Salem and the surrounding area. Key Club’s motto is “We don’t just make keys, we open doors.”
“But for our branch, locally here, South Salem High School, we like to focus more on our community and immediate community, so with Kiwanis, we typically will help them with Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. In the past, pre-COVID, we used to make cancer dolls and help deliver those, but we have had some stipulations since COVID with who we can meet. We do a lot of work here with Gilbert House, we work with Willamette Heritage Center, we partner with the city of Salem, we would like to work with nursing homes and we like to also collaborate with Friends of Trees, different clubs throughout South, to help volunteer, give back,” Gosney said.
Giving Back to the Community
Key Club directed the John Piper Day of Service Annual Leaf Rake on October 28, where students signed up to rake leaves and clean streets in the South neighborhood. They participated in the Salem Holiday Parade in November, organized the blood drive and helped out at the YMCA Children’s Christmas Party and the Gilbert House’s Wonder Gala at Willamette Heritage Center in December.
During the holiday season, the Key Club participates in the Salvation Army bell-ringing. In February, the club sells “Valograms” for Valentine’s Day. Essentially, the club gets together and they come up with ideas for events that they can hold.
“It is the officers that are in charge, so our president, vice president, secretary, bulletin board editor, webmaster and all of our members communicate together weekly, and I give them suggestions or they can look, it is really up to them. We usually have a Kiwanis member who comes and attends our meetings and lets us know about upcoming things. Sometimes we will have people that reach out to South Salem High School, through the principal, and then she will share it out to people that she knows, have clubs that do volunteer work, and so that we hear it that way,” Gosney said.
