Winter Wishes is a simple gift or request that a student can make for themselves or for others that a three-student committee may grant to boost the spirit of giving in the school. A “winter wish” originated from students at leadership camp who wanted to make a difference by promoting caring.

Winter Wish forms were given to all second-period teachers on Sept. 29 to pass out to the class, and was due Oct. 3. It was a green form that had three requests on it; one for the person filling out the form, and two for friends or anyone who a student designated to receive a gift.

Once the forms were turned in on Oct. 3, the committee looked them over, and are now deciding and making the wishes possible by getting donations. Donations can be made by students within the school, parents, or anyone who would like to help out.

Together, senior Analise Nelson, senior Matt Murray, and sophomore Alex Sinay-Smith came up with the idea of Winter Wishes.

“At leadership camp one of the other schools [Sumner High School] would always talk about winter wishes and how good it is for giving back,” Sinay said.

The program can be used for silly ideas such as wishing for a friend to get a pie thrown in their face, but the group’s main goal is to spread love and kindness all over the school.

“We are looking for wishes for others, we want to fulfill the needs of others,” Nelson said.

The distribution of wishes will happen all throughout the month of December up until Winter Break and the large gifts/wishes and special requests will occur on Dec. 19 at the Winter Wishes assembly. Depending on how many wishes the committee receives, they will grant all or most of the wishes. “If kids were to actually try, we will be granting quite a bit,” Sinay said.

Anyone who feels like giving back, and wants to know how to get involved can go to the “WHS Panthers (Wenatchee High Winter Wishes)” facebook page. A list of gift requests will be there and posted outside the ASB office as well. Once a gift has been chosen people can donate the gift unwrapped to room 708, located by the ASB office.

Some types of wishes the committee hopes to see from the student body are “meaningful ones that they normally wouldn’t be able to receive,” Murray said.