Opera tunes fill the college and career center as the clock hits 4:30 p.m. Soon, laughter and enthusiasm echo out into the hall as Community of Care members assemble for a race to handcraft joke cards for children and earn volunteer hours. The pressure is on at their second-to-last meeting on Feb. 26: having to craft another 130 cards with only two meetings left is a race against time.  

Since the beginning of February, Community of Care has been meeting every Monday and Wednesday after school to make joke and riddle cards. These cards go to the organization A BRIGHT SPOT, which distributes them to children. A BRIGHT SPOT aims to “bring smiles one free card at a time” by distributing uplifting cards at nursing homes, schools, hospitals, and veteran organizations. 

Bringing a smile to children’s faces wasn’t the original focus of the club though: Community of Care was founded in 2022 by club president Rayna Budigelli with the aim of spreading love and care to the elderly living at nursing homes. Research has found that 30% of nursing home residents suffer from depression each year. Hearing a report on this growing and often overlooked issue, Budigelli decided to do something about it and created the Community of Care. 

After partnering with A BRIGHT SPOT, the club found that the organization also offers to distribute fun joke and riddle cards to children to brighten up their days. “I think we’re slowly expanding our horizons to not only the elderly, but other people that we can help impact in the community,” Budigelli said. Eager to start another initiative after the club’s successful Valentine’s card campaign in January, they signed up to deliver 280 hand-crafted cards to A BRIGHT SPOT by the end of February. 

After only receiving five cards at the end of the club’s first meeting, the officers got nervous. “We really doubted that we would be able to meet our goal,” Budigelli said. “For the first three meetings, we got 5 cards, then 10 cards, then 15. [At our last meeting] we pulled out with 100. Luckily, thanks to everyone, we were able to pull it all off and now we have 300 cards.”

This effort and success was only made possible by dedicated members who showed up to earn volunteer hours, but also enjoyed the welcoming and joyful atmosphere and brought friends along to make cards together. Junior Samitha Bellary showed up to four meetings and had so much fun that she forgot about being there for the volunteer hours. 

How much volunteer time a card earned was evaluated on a scale of effort; while time was precious, many enjoyed putting a lot of effort into one card to make it look pretty. “I tried to make a lot of cards, but every time it would take an hour to make one card,” Bellary said. “I tried to make mine as fun [and] comedic as possible. I know people are going to be out there, they may be having a really horrible day, so I was like ‘let me just make their day a little bit better’.”

For Bellary, Budigelli and so many others, the event turned out to be a success, not only in the amount of cards they were able to craft but also in bringing the community together. “Seeing everyone there, listening to some random music that we put on, all laughing, all making cards [was one of my favorite moments],” Budigelli said. “I’ve seen people that have never met each other before, getting along so well, laughing together. I feel like it’s such a community experience, just for everyone who’s there making cards, collaboratively having a good time.”

Gallery • 6 Photos

Melissa Waas

Junior Julia Choi and Kassidy Garcia laugh as they think of fun puns to put on their riddle cards. Choi joined the club to spread positivity and contribute to her community. “I am here to bring a smile to children's faces and hope this will brighten up their days,” Choi said.