SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Jefferson Middle School Builders Club students have been busy elves this holiday season. The group began the season with Salvation Army bell ringing at a local Walgreens. Next, the club members moved indoors for two projects. According to Builders Club Advisor Carolyn Pakeltis, a casserole crew met in Jefferson’s student kitchen “cooking up some fine food for the homeless.” Then, the cookie crew met to decorate cookies that will be given, with appreciation, to local first responders—members of Villa Park’s police and fire departments. Pakeltis is a seventh-grade teacher at Jefferson. Builders Club is the largest service organization for middle school and junior high students, with more than 45,000 members worldwide. Builders Club is a student-led community service organization that operates under school regulations and draws its members from the student body. The Villa Park Kiwanis Club sponsors the Jefferson Builders Club.
