The Boothbay Region High School Interact Club is that and more.

Partnering with the Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor, the Interact Club, like the Rotary Club, is devoted to service in the community and internationally. It has about 25 members operating like a junior Rotary.

Locally, the Interact Club is working with the Food Pantry in the Fellowship Hall of Boothbay Harbor Congregational Church. The club is collecting dry food and canned goods to hand out on Halloween instead of candy. The club is also involved in the Yellow Tulip mental health awareness project, a nonprofit focused on building communities dedicated to helping smash the stigma surrounding mental illness. Club President Hali Goodwin explained, the yellow tulip represents hope and happiness.

Interact's international project involves micro lending through Kiva, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that enables people to lend money via the Internet to low-income students in over 80 countries. The club can choose the country that gets the loan of the money the club raises.

The club also recently set up a food closet right in the school. The food closet has snacks and other necessities such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant and more, at no cost. Fellow students can just help themselves!

Each year, the club holds an essay contest for new members from the eighth grade to help them get acquainted with what Interact is all about. This year's topic was to choose a problem facing the Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor communities. Teacher Ingrid Merrill, who is the club's coach, and several Rotary members judged the contest. Winners are chosen based on the subject selected and writing ability. The $100 first prize and $50 second prize are donated to a charity of the winners' choice.

This year's first place winner Grace Campbell and second place winner Jaelyn Crocker both selected food insecurities for their essays. They decided to donate their prize money to their new school food closet. After all, as the saying goes, "charity begins at home."