Community Service Week at SMS
Posted October 12, 2012
“One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something.” -Henry David Thoreau
Community Service Week starts at Saint Mary’s School on Monday, October 15. Every Saint Mary’s student must complete 20 hours of community service for each year she is a student here. During this week, our Community Service Committee will be using a variety of venues to talk about the ins and outs of community service.
During Monday’s assembly, the committee will make presentations about the logistics of community service, such as what does and doesn’t “count,” how to report hours, and how to sign-up for school sponsored activities. Immediately after the assembly, local organizations, including but not limited to the Alexander YMCA, the American Red Cross, the Joel Lane Museum House, North Raleigh Ministries, and the Rosewood at Cypress, will be on hand in the dining hall during lunch so students may learn about local organizations.
At the end of last school year, the community service committee decided to try what it would be like to have a theme in order to provide some cohesiveness for our program. This year’s theme is hunger. On Wednesday, October 17, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., we’ll have our community service afternoon!! Stop Hunger Now is a really great meal packaging experience. We’ll be packing over 20,000 meals in two hours in the gym. We will also hear presentations from Sara Ruiz and Tiffany Brown, from the local chapter of the Salvation Army. During Friday’s Chapel, seniors Mary Gordon Utt and Yue Xiang will also speak to the year’s theme.
Parents and students have access to the following on their portals:
Information about community service opportunities organized and publicized by Saint Mary’s
- The 2012-2013 community service report form (for approved opportunities done independently)
- Coming soon: updates on individual students’ recorded service hours
In closing, I’ll share with you the prayer that we will be praying in Community Service Chapel, which was adapted from the National Association for Episcopal Schools’ Collect for People Who Live in Poverty:
God of all, today we give thanks for the gift of Saint Mary’s community service program. We remember today everyone who is lonely and forgotten, the unlucky, the sick and the elderly, people who are homeless and hungry, young people who have no place to go and nothing for which to hope. Open in us wellsprings of compassion so that we might have the privilege of recognizing your face in all whom we meet. Help us to have generous instincts and to act thoughtfully for the sake of our community and our world. We ask this in your name. Amen.
The Rev. Ann Bonner-Stewart
Chaplain and Director of Community Service
