Just after the bell ended class one day a few years ago, Century High School English teacher Gail Beaudoin picked up her shoebox wrapped in Christmas paper, where money was stuffed for families of the Abused Adult Resource Center. A student walked up to her and handed her a $50 bill and walked to the door.

"Are you sure? This is a lot of money," Beaudoin said to the girl.

"I'm sure. A few years ago I was one of those kids, and I know how important it is. It's just my way of giving something back."

And with that, the student left the room.

For seven years, Beaudoin's classes have raised money for AARC families. This year the project brought in about $2,200 - $800 of which came from the third period classes of Beaudoin and fellow CHS English teacher and sister Bev Jundt.

"There are many reasons for why the class does this, but the 'official' reason is that it counts as community service since English-psychology is a service learning class," Beaudoin said. "But a lot of the students enjoy it, too. There are a few students who contribute $10 to $15 at a time because they want some child who they don't know to have as nice of a Christmas as they do."

Sophomore Bridget Schaeffer has helped by donating six movie tickets from Grand Theatres. She also collected money from other classrooms taking part in the project. Schaeffer used the money at Bath and Body Works, picking out items and helping to wrap them.

"We get a warm feeling knowing that we actually made a difference in someone's life," Schaeffer said. "And in the end we're all exhausted, but I feel good."

Sophomore Alex Davidson contributed his time by shopping at Target and wrapping gifts collected for the Angel Tree by the school library. Davidson has admitted to being a little scared of his English-psyche teacher, but it was the guilt that got him.

"My first thoughts were that it was just a class project, but after getting into it I understand that there are people who need help. I'm just happy we could," Davidson said. "If I could say one thing to those families, it'd probably be the obvious: Merry Christmas."

(Cody J. Arso, a junior, is a photo editor for the Century High School newspaper and spends much time spritzing groceries at Dan's SuperMarket.)