The Giving Spirit is proud to announce our 2007 "True Spirit" Award winner

Julie Hartz and the students of Los Osos High School.

Julie Hartz is a Spanish teacher at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga. In 2007, she went looking for a non-profit that her students could get directly involved with -- that they could get excited about -- and after searching on the Internet, she found The Giving Spirit.

Ms. Hartz told her classes about the organization and they formed the student-run Giving Spirit Club, with the centerpiece of their efforts being their annual Giving Spirit Week in November, when the Club works across campus with events and activities to raise money, collect donated products, and increase awareness about the issue of homelessness in Los Angeles.

About 60 students in The Giving Spirit Club worked 2-3 hours every day after school for weeks to prepare for Giving Spirit Week 2007, which is now an annual event. Other schools in the Los Angeles region have since modeled similar programs on Ms. Hartz's efforts.

 Here's what some of her students told us:

  "She picked her best and brightest and she said, 'You know what, guys? I have a problem that we need to solve, and I hope that you want to help fix it with me.' 

  We have problems in California that need to be handled, and homelessness is really important to us, and even though we can't personally relate to being homeless, we know that we don't want to be heartless, you know?

  You're working with the most dedicated people you're going to find in this area."

-- Shalyn 

"And one things why some of the kids are choosing to stick with this organization -- because we have a lot of clubs here on this campus. But the reason they've chosen The Giving Spirit is not only do we just raise some money and products, but we get the chance to actually physically go and help assemble these duffel bags and hand them to the homeless person. You get to actually see all your efforts - you get to see the reward.

 We want to do something more hands-on, that we get to  actually gain something from it."

--Christian