Students at St. John’s Area School do a service project during Lent each year. This year we thought that it was especially important that our service project focus on our own community, and Sandy [Second Grade Teacher at St. John’s] immediately thought of CARE. After talking to the Director, Connie, we decided this was the perfect Lenten project, since one of the purposes of Lent is to grow closer to God through acts of kindness.
Connie mentioned that, with the pandemic, the seniors have not had many visitors and could use something to brighten their day. Our school families were amazing, and donated many snacks, word finds, activity and coloring books, crayons, and money.
In our classrooms, each student made a card or letter that was personalized for each senior. “We are giving to show people we really care about them,” mentioned Waylon, a second-grade student.
When asked how participating in this service project made them feel, Simon, a fifth-grade student at St. John’s said, “It made me feel good to give stuff to people, and that they got to see my card.” Michael, a fourth-grade student, said, “It made me feel good because I knew I was making people smile.”
Our school Mission Statement states that we are preparing our students “to live in and contribute to a changing world.” We feel that this service project for seniors in our community helped instill in our students kindness and compassion for our changing world.
CARE Volunteer Coordinator Karen Cross said, “In mid-May CARE volunteers delivered the “May baskets” to seniors, who were delighted and grateful for the kindness shown by the students at St. John’s. One recipient made an appointment with St. John’s to go to the school and personally meet the student who made the card he received, and to thank that student. We were very pleased to be part of this project!”
