12.14.07

Community service

Watching our third through eighth graders pack holiday bags for the Oxford Family Resource Center’s Holiday Gift Basket distribution would have made each and every parent incredibly proud. Using their boundless energy, they worked continuously for several hours gathering canned and boxed goods according to a prescribed list, making judgements about what constituted a good portion from the limited options, and being sure that each bag had “enough.” They did a wonderful job, but had to stop because the food had run out before the number of bags had been packed.

Then, on the way home, a group of students mulled over the information that, in addition to the fact that they hadn’t packed enough bags, the impending snowstorm almost guaranteed that many people who were homebound or lacking transportation would probably not be able to get to the distribution of food on Saturday and would be calling Monday to see whether there was anything left, only to find out there would not be.

Result? An instant bake sale today to raise money to buy enough boxed foodstuffs to make 30-50 more bags possible. It was organized in 5 minutes on the way back to school and announced in time for dismissal. Pretty exciting!

This project has been an awe-inspiring event and an exciting preview of what they will all contribute to the future. More important, it was a firm reminder that they have no intention of waiting to be active citizens; they're doing it now.

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