Every year during the Holidays, the 270 students in Canyon High School’s Safe School Ambassadors program look for ways they can give back to their community.

This year’s goal? Help the 32 students at the school who are homeless.

For confidentiality reasons, those 32 students, members of 28 families, remained anonymous.

So the SSA students started asking for donations. They went to local stores like Target and Wal Mart asking for gift cards, but all they raised was $20 gift cards for 21 families.

Then they took their cause to social media, asking for money and gift cards, in the hopes of getting all 32 students and 28 families at least a little Holiday cheer.

And that’s when the community responded.

When the campaign wrapped up, those 270 SSA students had raised $8,320 in gift cards, enough to give each family with one Canyon High School student $250 in gift cards, and those with two Canyon students $400.

Twenty-eight bags were filled with the gift cards and other donated items such as toiletries.

“Our hope was that in addition to getting the necessities, the parent(s)/guardian(s) would get to experience the joy of picking out a gift for their child(ren),” said Canyon English teacher Cheryl Hanks, SSA program advisor.

The SSA students will never know who their efforts helped, but they know 32 students in 28 families will at least get to share in the joy of the season.