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Westminster Christian School senior Gabriella (Gaby) Swenson has started clubs at school that specialize in helping the community including the Miami Diaper Bank Outreach Club.
“I was working from freshman year through senior year with the Miami Diaper Bank,” she says. “I thought we could turn it into a club so more people can get involved.”
They hosted a collection drive during Diaper Awareness Week in September. The club usually does two drives a year and the next one may be in February.
The collections gather not only diapers but other needed items such as wipes and pacifiers.
The diaper drives are important because the government does not recognize diapers as a need so those folks who need government assistance still need to pay for the expensive diapers out of their own pockets. The Diaper Bank gives the diapers to low-income families.
Her passion has always been to help young children. She volunteered at Genesis Hopeful Haven, a foster care group and center in Miami.
“They want to give foster youth a safe place,” she says.
So she formed a club, GHH Girls.
“The club focuses on empowering young girls in the foster care system. We are giving them that big sister bond that they are missing,” she says.
Club members try to go once a month. If they can’t go for a visit, they will volunteer at GHH events.
Swenson also volunteers for The Abuelo Foundation, an organization that assists senior citizens and provides care.
“We pack a bag of items such as rice, beans, pasta, noodles, pasta sauces, juice, cleaners and a handwritten note. We distribute them to the elderly,” she says. “We also offer to help put it away. A lot say yes. If they are home, you can have a conversation with them. It’s a fun way to connect with the seniors. They want to know about you.”
She was the first Westminster chapter chair.
“I did a club. We did activities. One of the activities I did last year was going to Smathers Plaza, and along with the monthly distribution of goods, we passed out ornaments.”
She handed the club over so she could join the foundation’s Youth Foundation Board as the volunteer outreach director.
Swenson also goes on mission trips.
She’s going on her second mission trip with Smiles for All, a club that works with an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. Last year they build a playground for the children and helped build a barn,
The orphanage deals with babies through 12-13 year olds.
“We went into the classrooms and played with them and helped them with their reading.
This year I’m going in January for about 5 days,” she says.
Her enthusiasm for working with children had her looking at careers that work with children.
“I started looking for jobs in pediatrics. I interned and shadowed a speech therapist,” she says.
She recently committed to Florida State University majoring in Communications Science and Disorders, the major needed to become a speech therapist.
At Westminster she’s a student ambassador, helping the admissions team by giving tours to prospective students and their families.
“I’ve been at Westminster since pre-school. I love telling new families about my experiences at Westminster,” she says.
She’s secretary of the National Honor Society, a member of the World Languages Honor Society, Rho Kappa, the Science National Honor Society, the English National Honor Society and the Art National Honor Society.
She is a photographer, and won an Beaux Arts Festival Honorable mention for a photo of the Eiffel Tower she took with her phone.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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