Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Importance of Service


A week ago I had the pleasure of rolling up my sleeves and working side-by-side with teachers, parents, and sixth grade students from Harriet Bishop, Hidden Valley, and Marion W. Savage. I picked a bad day to wear a black shirt. By the time we finished, my shirt was covered with soy dust!

You see, we were taking part in a gigantic Feed My Starving Children event taking place at Prince of Peace. ALL of the meals we made during our two hours (we only ended up packing for about an hour and 15 minutes of that) went directly to Haiti. We made about 68,000 meals out of a total of 1, 527,768 - again, ALL of it went to Haiti.

Not only did we help a nation in desperate need, but kids worked with their future classmates at Eagle Ridge Junior High. They laughed, worked, laughed a bit more, made some initial connections, and strengthened other connections. Most importantly, the kids learned, some of them for the first time, that serving others isn't just an idea. Instead it is an attitude...a habit...a way of life...and it doesn't have to be complicated!

I believe in what we are doing at Harriet Bishop. The staff continues to push themselves to grow professionally in order to meet the needs of our students in even more profound and impactful ways. This is saying something, as we know what terrific teachers we had to begin with! Our students are fantastic, energetic, and hard-working. I'm very proud of how they've grown as well rounded youngsters. However, I'm not sure I've ever been more proud of our students, as well as the students from Hidden Valley and Marion W. Savage, than I was last Friday. Before leaving the campus to return to Harriet Bishop I sat silently in my car to reflect on what I had just witnessed. These kids will never meet the kids they helped that day, but they willingly and joyfully worked hard to bag meals for them (chicken, veggie, soy, rice!), seeking nothing in return. If that isn't the definition of serving others, I don't know what is!

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