Every year in December, NC hosts their Shop with a Warrior (SWAW) event, in which groups of NC students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, gather to provide lower-income families within the community a memory they will never forget. December 13, at 8:30 a.m., students will gather inside the cafeteria for a meaningful and magical morning. While the festivities lie over a month away, sign-ups begin November 3. This event remains vital to the NC community, providing families, especially the children, with a memorable holiday season.

Sign-ups for the event start as early as November 3; participants can range from two to four NC students of any grade. Students must raise and submit money, the amount varying by the year. This year, participants will provide $120, and all money provided will fund the children’s gifts. Kids from all around the Acworth and Kennesaw communities, as well as local elementary schools, look forward to the annual event as it brightens the holidays for an abundance of Warrior families. Encouragement for students to register derives from the meaningful experience and memories they create not only with their peers but also with children in their community. Volunteers should sign up as soon as possible, and though registration remains open to anyone, only the first batch of groups receives a little shopper to accompany them throughout the morning. The other groups will still travel to Walmart and purchase toys for local Warrior families who could not attend the event in person.

“I think people should sign up because it gives them an opportunity to help the community and connect with people they wouldn’t be able to unless they sign up. The kids have a blast picking out gifts for the people they care about, and it lets them enjoy the process of gift-giving. The students get to see the joy that the kids get from the whole event and build relationships with the kids,” junior Nedavia Rasmussen said. 

The morning of the event, student groups will gather in their matching SWAW shirts and meet the parents of their little shoppers. Once the parents meet the students and exchange information, they receive their holiday buddy. The child spends the morning hanging around older students who serve as role models. Before the little shopper arrives at the school, they fill out a form including information on gifts the participant and their family desire for the holidays. 

After waiting and visiting with their junior shopper, the groups board the buses and travel to Walmart off of Cobb Parkway. Participants explore the store, creating memories with their younger buddy and buying gifts for their families. Once the teams finish purchasing presents, they board the buses back to the NC campus for the final activities of the morning. They wrap or bag up the presents, eat pizza, decorate sugar cookies, take pictures with Santa, and, as in past years, volunteers may offer a table full of mini Christmas trees and ornaments for the children to take home. From colorful ornaments to classic green trees, the volunteers provide families with a joyful image of the holiday season in their homes. After the group shops and recovers inside the school cafeteria, the student leader of the group contacts the parents to let them know the morning activities came to a close. Finally, the volunteers reunite the child with their parents and help deliver the newly bought gifts to the family.

“My sister sets up a table to give small Christmas trees to kids who don’t have one at home. The number of trees we give out depends on our supply — many years, all of our trees have been given out, and a normal supply is about 25 trees. This event is so important because it lets people give back to the kids of the community, helping them to have something many of us might think is normal,” junior Skyler Williams said.

As the holiday season quickly approaches, slots to sign up and receive a shopping buddy to take on the experience will rapidly fill up. The sign-up begins November 3, and the event will take place on December 13, providing students over a month to secure their placement. Not only does the occasion impact NC students by providing them with a meaningful morning of actively helping their community, but it also carries an impact beyond the walls of the school through the simple tradition of holiday giving. The act of shopping and buying gifts with friends and children forms numerous memories both for the youth and their families, transitioning into the holiday season and for years to come. Sign up for this year’s annual shop with a Warrior event and spread the holiday cheer within the NC community.