MV Outreach, led by sophomore Emma Wilhoit, gathered over 20 students to attend a Valentine’s Day party at Park Lanes on Friday, Feb. 13. This two hour long event was organized to support and spend time with some Special Ed students from Mill Valley.

MV Outreach secretary junior Maddie Gerber, expands on the objective of having a bowling party.

“The purpose of bowling today was to have a party,” Gerber said. “[We wanted to] have the special needs kids involved with our school, meet new friends and better our community at Mill Valley.”

Sophomore Ally Saab describes how this experience will influence the special needs students.

“I think that this event, in particular, helps to set good examples for people who don’t necessarily get to see those examples often,” Saab said. “It also gives us a chance to have some fun with people that we don’t usually get to have fun with and we get to reach out to people that don’t get to do fun things like this on a regular basis.”

Along with the Valentine’s Day Party, MV Outreach plans to take to the streets for a walk for autism sometime in April. According to sophomore Ben Hoepner, there are also plans to put together care packages for children in need. Hoepner names ways the club has been helping others.

“MV outreach helps children in need in multiple ways,” Hoepner said. “We have activities like this today where we just spend time with them having fun doing things like bowling. Recently, we made crafts to hang on the walls at Children’s Mercy which really brightens their days at the hospital. We also do things such as autism walks and fundraisers that allows us to raise money in order to help children in need.”

Junior Paige Wiebe believes the new leadership and support from a new sponsor has impacted the club in a noticeable way.

“Emma’s really dedicated to this club [and] has done a good job of making sure the meetings are organized,” Wiebe said. “[Mrs. Apple] is very engaged and I see her helping Emma all the time. She helped with the decorations and helped everyone get checked in. It’s really nice to have a sponsor who really cares.”

Enjoying bowling with the Special Ed students, Wiebe described how this sort of experience will benefit both the special needs and the students volunteering.

“Not only does it help them feel better supported and not different like they always do every day but it also helps the people that help volunteer,” Wiebe said. “They really show what’s important in life. It’s not about doing good on this test or having this amount of money, [but] having fun and being nice to other people and helping them see a better part of life.”

Gerber encourages more students to join MV Outreach because of its enjoyable and influential nature.

“Anyone is welcome to join the club and it’s really fun,” Gerber said. “I enjoy it a lot and you make a lot of new friends. It makes my heart just really happy when I go and do this stuff.”