Students make mason jar gifts for Christ’s Table

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- ‘Tis the season for giving and giving is in full swing here in Zanesville.

A group of students wanted to give back to the community this holiday season so they took to Pinterest and found this idea for mason jars to give to Christ’s Table.

“The kids and I were talking and we were talking about how you get when you give,” said Katrina Vandegriff, a teacher at Zanesville Community High School. “And so we decided that we needed to be giving and then we would be getting the great feeling of the holidays. So we decided on a project. We went through Pinterest of course and decided on a project to do.”

Vandegriff reached out to Christ’s Table to see what they could do and the project took off from there.

“We bought over 200 mason jars because Keely said there are about 160 shut-ins. And each of the kids…I showed them some different methods of doing the mason jars and then they took off on their own and they did such a variety of mason jars to put little lights in to light up everyone’s Christmas.”

Today, Warden went to the school to pick up the jars and was surprised with what she saw.

“I was just taken back. The talent within this room is amazing. The kids put so much time and energy into it,” Warden gushed. “They’re all so creative and the good thing is it lights up and it’s going to light up the homes of those that may not have a light at this time of the year.”

The students say this project makes them feel good and they’re happy they were able to help someone else.

“We wanted to give them something from us and give them a present. A Christmas present that spread their Christmas joy,” said Jordan Walls, a student at Zanesville Community High School.

“I actually love it. It brings joy to me to bring smiles on other people’s faces,” student Eliza Young shared.

And Vandegriff praised her students saying people should really think twice before judging the kids.

“I’m super proud of my students. We get a bad rep down here a lot of the time, but we really have great kids who do great things for other people.”