Clarke Central High School Supporting Senior Citizens Club Vice President Izzy Grogan (left) and SSCC founder and President Mary Wicker (right), both seniors, pose with letters written for senior citizens in front of the CCHS Eve Carson Memorial Garden on April 24. SSCC held a Letter Writing Workshop on Oct. 7, 2025, at which club members wrote letters for the Athens Community Council on Aging to send to Meals on Wheels clients. “(Wicker and I) got a Google Form and had people write letters, and then we hand-wrote them (and) we wrote some ourselves, too,” Grogan said. “(The letters) were to go to people who didn’t have a lot of family to visit them, (which) really contributed to our (club’s) mission (of aiding seniors).” Photo by Iliana Tejada
Since the start of the 2025-26 school year, CCHS’ Supporting Senior Citizens Club has aided Athens-Clarke County elders through fundraisers and volunteer work.
Raising money for and volunteering in support of Athens-Clarke County elders are just a couple of the activities that the Clarke Central High School Supporting Senior Citizens Club engages in.
SSCC founder and President Mary Wicker, a senior, launched the club at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year out of a desire to support ACC’s elderly community, beginning with those close to her.
“I was named after my great-grandma, Mary Wicker, and I adored her. I would spend time with her all the time,” Wicker said. “I love hearing (the elderly’s) stories and their life experiences, (but) also (because) they can be lonely if they don’t live by their family or if their spouse died, so I like spending time with them.”
After asking CCHS English department co-chair Meghan McNeeley to sponsor the club, Wicker began holding club meetings on Thursdays before school in McNeeley’s room. The meetings regularly involve brainstorming ideas for volunteering and holding various workshops. Wicker also conducted research on organizations and senior citizen homes SSCC could connect with, such as the Athens Community Council on Aging (ACCA) and Lanier Gardens, an apartment community located at 801 Riverhill Drive, respectively.
“I know (Wicker is) a doer, and she has a big heart, so whatever she wanted (when starting the club), I (said), ‘Yeah, let’s go,’ and that was it,” McNeeley said. “This is her brainchild. (SSCC) is everything (to) her.”
A video shows Clarke Central High School Supporting Senior Citizens Club founder and President Mary Wicker, a senior, reading the SSCC’s mission statement. The club began with Wicker’s friends and other interested students, but as time went on, Wicker found engagement resided most with its executive board. “(SSCC is) not a club where anyone can show up one day and do whatever we’re doing, because we’re always doing something that lasts a few meetings,” Wicker said. “We decided just the executive board will have meetings, and then when we have volunteering opportunities, we’ll do outreach.” Video by Isabella Gresham and Mzée Pavlić
In the early stages of the club, Wicker decided on having an Executive Board of six members to run it. The board consisted of those who were most active within SSCC, including SSCC Vice President and Event Planner Izzy Grogan, a senior, who works with organizations and prioritizes community outreach.
So far, Grogan has set up a percentage night with Chick-fil-A’s Beechwood location on Nov. 11, 2025, where the restaurant donated 10% of its sales to SSCC, and helped with Trunk or Treat in the CCHS Bus Loop on Oct. 28, 2025 as a way to connect with the Athens community.
“My favorite part (of SSCC) is being able to (work) with everybody in the club. (I enjoy bouncing) ideas off of each other and (being) able to put (the ideas) into action,” Grogan said. “We’re trying to raise money for different senior homes. My grandma’s in (Lanier Gardens), and we’re working on volunteering there. (SSCC is) a good cause (and) a great thing to be a part of.”
SSCC has been able to assist senior citizens while still operating within the walls of CCHS. For example, the club asked CCHS students to submit letters addressed to ACC senior citizens from Oct. 7-18, 2025, which Wicker brought to the ACCA to distribute to Meals on Wheels clients.
“I was inspired by Letters Against Isolation, which is a (United States-based) nonprofit. I wanted to do something like that, where (SSCC makes) letters and (sends) them to different places, letting the people at (senior) homes know that people are thinking of them,” Wicker said. “Some (students) put their favorite quotes, told them about their day and asked questions, just letting (the senior citizens) know that we’re thinking of them and they’re loved.”
An infographic shows various ways to support the Athens-Clarke County senior citizen community. Clarke Central High School senior Mary Wicker founded CCHS’ Supporting Senior Citizens Club after English department co-chair Meghan McNeeley agreed to sponsor it at the start of the 2025-26 school year. “(Wicker) does it all (in SSCC). She creates a slideshow presentation, she comes in and she goes through ideas,” McNeeley said, “It’s a small club, and they get together and all have their (own) jobs and roles. Somebody is social media, outreach (and) fundraising.” Graphic by Mzée Pavlić, Merren Hines and Lea D’Angelo
To set up the distribution of the letters, Wicker reached out to ACCA Volunteer Coordinator Ezra Schley and brought the letter-writing idea to him. Schley then brought meals, along with the letters, to homebound senior citizens.
“The letters were (a) great way to tell (ACCA’s) Meals on Wheels clients that someone’s thinking of them. Somebody really devoted (took the) time to (write) this letter and (is) improving their social connection (so they can) feel better about their network in their community,” Schley said. “(The clients) were so happy to see (the letters). It just brightens their day in a really neat way.”
Clarke Central High School Supporting Senior Citizens Club members write letters to Athens-Clarke County senior citizens during a Letter Writing Workshop in Room 321 on Oct. 7, 2025. SSCC founder and President Mary Wicker, a senior, worked with Athens Community Council on Aging Volunteer Coordinator Ezra Schley to brainstorm a way to aid ACC senior citizens. “One challenge on (ACCA’s) end is that we are only open Monday through Friday during regular work hours (from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.), so students are often in school during our work hours,” Schley said. “(We were) just finding a way to get (SSCC) connected to (the) ACCA. (The members) had brought up the idea of writing cards and letters to our homebound adults, which is really awesome.” Photo courtesy of Mary Wicker
As a larger project, SSCC is working on organizing a yard sale fundraiser that would be held in the CCHS Bus Loop, but it is currently awaiting approval as of April 22. Athens community memberswould buy a slot from SSCC to sell their chosen goods, with the total revenue they make being donated to ACCA.
Additionally, SSCC Executive Board members held two clay workshops using the funds they earned from the percentage night for materials, with one on Jan. 29 and a second on Feb. 6. The clay trinkets they made will also be sold at the yard sale.
“(The yard sale) could be like Trunk or Treat, a sustained (event), (where) you have it every year (and) the community comes out,” McNeeley said. “(It’s) important (for SSCC) to incorporate (Clarke) Central as well as the (Athens) community. A lot of times with seniors, they are on very limited incomes, (so SSCC) could let them come shop at the yard sale and get a discount.”
“I just know (Wicker’s) a doer, and she has a big heart, so whatever she wanted, I (said), ‘Yeah, let’s go,’ and that was it.”
— Meghan McNeeley,
CCHS Supporting Senior Citizens sponsor
The club is hoping to extend its community outreach with posters around CCHS and on Instagram as a way to gain traction for the yard sale and for the club to continue after the current Executive Board members graduate at the end of the 2026-27 school year.
“I’m hoping I can go through with a lot of different events (because) it feels good to follow through with them,” Grogan said. “I am hoping that thisclub stays in Clarke Central and shows people that (it is) a good cause, and it’s something that we should all work towards: supporting the seniors in our community because a lot of them don’t have family who come to visit them all the time.”
More from Isabella Gresham
More from Merren Hines
More from Olivia Trimble
