Books for the Children's Hospital

Ten students created books that we will deliver to the Phoenix Children's Hospital. After creating a book, Yessica wrote the following service reflection:

by Yessica

What I have done is create a book for the children's hospital. I realize that they have books, but this seems like something that would tell them that we care about them and we're going to take our time to do something creative for them. Reading a homemade book is a great way to distract yourself when times are painful or boring. I created a book because, knowing how much they have suffered, this seemed like a way they could enjoy themselves. I won't be allowed to visit, but I can imagine their smiles. I was proud of myself. It felt good to help others.

Double-Header of Hope

by Keyvan

Last weekend I spent my Saturday helping out my community. I was helping out at the Double Header of Hope, a project organized by the Social Awareness Club. I helped out at a food bank and at a youth home base. When I was at the food bank we were helping by putting food into bags and putting clothes on tables. We were also giving out candy bars, water,and Gatorades to the people waiting in line. We were doing something good for all of the people who needed it a lot.

We did really well at the home base by cooking for the kids that were in there. We had some fun there to by messing around with Mr. Lucero. We had to cook some enchiladas and refried beans.When we finished we had to serve them as well. When they finished eating I washed the dishes. It was funny because the water faucet was broken and the water came out on its own and it wet me.

Even though it was all day long it felt good because we did something good for the community. It was a great reminder that service can be difficult, but it can also be fun! If you aren't someone who normally does volunteer work, you might want to consider it.

Photo Credits

Flickr Creative Commons

http://www.flickr.com/photos/slightlynorth/3176027242/

A Semester of Service

by Stephany

I volunteered in many different activities throughout the duration of the second quarter that improved my thinking abilities and compassion for others. The first event I was a major part of was the preparation for our own play, a few of the tasks I completed were the sketches. It was a great feeling when we gazed upon the finished result of the home during the Holocaust. Not only that, but we symbolically expressed what great torture millions of people lived through. If by the end of this play we impact the lives' of many people and inform them how horrible it was for many of our ancestors among us, we would look at things nowadays differently.

Planning for the future date of secretary appreciation day has also been one of my priorities that during its process has made me reflect upon life at a greater extent. One of the lessons I've learned has been, every person amongst us has an occupation which makes them ordinary, but the person who strives and lives day by day with the effort of improving the lives of others is to be honored. Our secretaries fulfill this very statement, with no doubt they deserve all we have planned for them and if possible the mentioning of their support on a daily basis. I will absolutely love to carry on this act with me in my future years because with an act like this we are changing the world bit by bit.

What We Accomplished

This was just one of the many projects we have accomplished.

The following is a letter from a student explaining some of the ways the IMPACT Program has made a difference:

March 27, 2008

Dear Arizona Republic:

I'm a student at Frank Borman Middle School here in Phoenix. This school has a really bad reputation. People think we are all gangsters and taggers who terrorize the neighborhood. They see that we are poor and they think we are ghetto.

The reality is that we are actually doing a lot of projects that are helping local, national and international charities. We have what we call the Impact Program. This program teaches students many valuable skills and lessons. This program also teaches you the value of community service and how good it feels to help others. It teaches you valuable technology skills and it enables us to use our creativity to do things we never thought possible.

We have done some pretty amazing projects.I will give you a total recap on our greatest projects that helped many people or helped make some wonderful memories. We have done many projects and fundraisers that help charities all over the world and locally. We have held dances, sold candy, worked with Rollero and organized a car wash all to raise money for Life Straws in Africa. These straws can help people in Africa so that they don't have to walk so far to get clean water they can drink water through the straw and it purifies it. These straws will help save lives. So far we have raised over $1,000! We as students volunteered at the food bank after we had donated 800 cans of food. We went to the Andre House. We painted over the graffiti in our neighborhood for two straight weekends. So far, the students in our team have volunteered over 1,500 hours. Many of our projects include the Social Awareness Club and they have done over 500 hours.

It's more than just community service, though. I'm really proud of the murals that we have painted in our school. We're already on our second mural this year. It is a thank you mural to all the people who have helped make our education happen. We are also doing a memorial art project for all the people who have died crossing the border. I'm one of the many students who give up our lunch time and our before and after school time to do the book clubs, tutoring, leadership classes, newscast and other projects that we have worked on. We have designed websites, created documentaries, recorded podcasts and so many things that you don't expect a bunch of junior high kids to do.

So the reason I am writing this is that I think that the teachers and students have done some amazing things. You should check out our website at thesocialvoice.com/impact or even just check out our online magazine at thesocialvoice.com. And if you think that what we have done is cool, you should do a story about us. I want the community to see that there are many students who care and who want to change things in our city and in our world.

Sincerely:

Andromeda Student

Service Reflections

Post Service Reflections Here

food bank

The IMPACT program partnered with the Social Awareness Club in a trip to the St. Mary's Food Bank on Saturday. Currently, the two groups are working on many projects together. These include a Turkey Dance this upcoming Tuesday as well as an Astro Mural that we just finished. We'll be posting pictures of the mural within the next few days.

Together the two groups have donated over 1,500 items of food and have had roughly 30 volunteers particpate in our service learning trips. Great work everybody!

If you volunteered, please write a short reflection about your experience. What was it like? How did it feel before and after? Who were you able to help? Would you recommend this activity again?