This December, students at Ida B. Wells High School are looking forward to celebrating the upcoming holiday season with joy, and some are aiming to share that.
On Dec. 13, 2025, the IBW’s Positive Charge! Club partnered with multiple organizations to spread happiness through cookies. The club encouraged community members to bring cookies and cards to the IBW cafeteria to pack and then distribute them by volunteers.
“We are sharing a plate of holiday cheer with people who are in nonprofit, housing or service organizations, who might need a little bit more support this time of year,” says Jessica Wade, an advisor of the club and career counselor at IBW. “This is just really a way of saying, ‘we care about you.’”
Cookies for a Cause aims to help lower-income, homeless, elderly and families that might need extra support this holiday season. This year, they were able to support more than 1,000 individuals.
Wade says the event “exemplifies” the mission of the club. The Portland-based non-profit organization focuses on spreading and amplifying kindness to communities through various drives, events and fundraisers.
Especially during the holiday season, some Portlanders need a little extra support. The holidays can be tough for those lacking resources, support or family, “this just adds an opportunity to give them a sweet treat and a special note of cheer,” says Abby Menashe, volunteer and board member for Positive Charge! PDX, as well as the VP Administrative Assistant at IBW. “It may be their only holiday card of the season.”
Volunteers and community members were encouraged to meet in the IBW cafeteria from 1-3 pm on Saturday. The cafeteria consisted of three stations: one for making cards with holiday cheer and festive messages, another for packing cookies and a final station for assembling both cookies and notes. Volunteer drivers then delivered the cookie packages throughout Portland. From Southwest to Northeast Portland, these cookies reached all areas of the city at 37 different locations.
Organizations and partner programs have fluctuated over the years, but this year, Positive Charge! PDX worked with New Narrative, Northwest Pilot Project and Sunstone Way, as well as contributing to Janus Youth and Multnomah Safe Rest Village. “By partnering with organizations, you can amplify what they are doing, and it’s a win-win for both,” says Menashe.
All of the programs highlight helping underrepresented or struggling individuals in the Portland area, whether they are tackling mental health, housing or family struggles, they all work towards lifting the community. More information about the different partnerships can be found at Positive Charge! PDX’s website.
“Our community that we build is representative of everyone, and we’re only as strong as each other, and we’re only as strong as our community,” says Sophie Lafrenz, co-president of the club at IBW. “The more that we’re able to uplift each other and create opportunities for people to have productive and happy lives, I think that just improves everyone’s ability to succeed overall.”
Cookies for Cause is a recurring event, but it has different origins. Before COVID-19 and during Christmas, first responders who couldn’t celebrate at home had volunteers bring them cookies to bring to festivities and to their facilities.
Now, the event has evolved into different communities, yet it still has a similar goal. Throughout the years, they’ve been able to spread cookies and joy, and they want to continue that, attempting to get as many people involved as possible.
Advertising and bringing attention to the event, the club was hard at work leading up to the event. On Nov. 30 and Dec. 5, they handed out flyers, baking supplies and offered card-making in Multnomah Village, aiming to attract more community members to the event. They were also at IBW’s first women’s home basketball game, announcing the event and broadcasting to the IBW community.
They wanted to make the lead-up to the event as accessible as possible, giving out supplies to bake cookies well in advance and having volunteers only do what they could.
The club organized and made cards to prepare for the event at their Thursday club meetings, along with Josephine Varon, student representative and co-president, and Menashe, meeting with New Narrative over Zoom every other week to solidify details about Cookies for a Cause.
Lafrenz says that seeing and hearing about the impact of the club’s drives is gratifying. When partnered with Janus Youth and the Neighborhood House, they would hear about direct impacts on the community through the club’s fundraising and support. “My favorite part has just been getting to see how directly we’re able to help people and actually speak to people who are like, ‘yeah, everything that you did, you know, these clothes that you collected, the money that you raised actually went to helping people and improving people’s lives,’” says Lafrenz.
The event was a success, with a large turnout. More than 100 people attended the event, welcoming all ages. Community members, members of IBW’s Positive Charge! Club, as well as IBW’s Key Club, were present. Over 6,000 cookies were donated at the event and delivered to seven non-profit social service agencies, which were served to spread more cheer this holiday season.
