CHESAPEAKE — The giving spirit found its way in many forms this holiday at Chesapeake High School as students strove to help their fellow men.

One of those was a clothing drive the entire student body participated in that brought in 268 coats.

“Those were taken to White Way (laundry) and the cleaners cleaned those and distributed them to those in need,” said Pam Rase, high school teacher and adviser to the National Honor Society and Student Council.

“Eric Sias was the student in charge of that. He took the initiative to instigate that drive.”

Carrie Carrico, the high school reading teacher, and her reading club headed up the annual canned food drive that supplies non-perishable items to the pantry at the Chesapeake Community Center.

The drive brought in 2,400 cans and boxed items that were given away Wednesday at the center. Chesapeake students also worked at the center that day to help distribute the baskets and carried them to the cars of the recipients. Benji Koletka was the student coordinator for the work at the center. Gina Allen was student coordinator for the food drive.

The speech class headed by Colleen Sexton, English teacher, organized a schoolwide assembly to honor county veterans.

“We had an assembly to honor what they had done and what we had to be thankful for and how we all benefited,” Rase said.

Students also took names off of Angel trees in the area to buy presents for needy children.

“The teachers are in this too and have been contributing (to the various events),” Rase said. “It has been a schoolwide effort. As an educator it blesses me when I see kids working for others, who really don’t have themselves. I see kids giving their change from their lunch money who don’t really have it. They are giving. The Bible says it will come back tenfold.

“We can teach them how to read and write and do arithmetic, but if we don’t teach them how to be a good person, I don’t think we have done our job. Our job as educators is to produce productive citizens.”