The Big Give is a charity that the Reed family of Dover does every year to help out foster families in need. This year, the high school helped out by having students bring PJs and pillows from Dec. 1 through 19. As a team, DAHS collected 56 pairs of pjs and 14 pillows.

Freshman Alandra Reed said, “My family runs this collection in order to give kids something when they have nothing. When most kids are put into a foster care system, their personal belongings are thrown into a trash bag; their items are usually thrown out never to be seen again. These kids were just separated from their family, and now they have nothing of their own. Our family supplies them with something new every year. It can range from clothes to school supplies to personal hygiene supplies.”

Sometimes it is challenging to have people understand why The Big Give is such a big deal to the Reeds, and why they do it. Senior Jamie Reed said, “The idea for The Big Give was to give back to the community. My siblings and I were adopted out of the foster care system, so we wanted to give back to them for everything they did for us.”

The high school’s collection drive was only part of this year’s give. Jamie said, “We are still collecting from other places, so we won’t know the overall result until the middle of January.”

To Jamie and Alandra, this year’s Big Give turned out better than they expected with plenty of gifts which will go to kids who are in the foster care system and the adults who age out of it.