This spring marked the return to an age-old Solebury School tradition of an all-school Service Day. We decided to pull this day from the bin, dust it off, and fully resurrect it because it is an important part of our history and a reflection of our current culture. We have a very service-oriented faculty, staff, and student body, and an all-school service day is an amazing way to celebrate it in solidarity, as well as expose everyone to work and activities they may not experience otherwise, help kids gain exposure to and confidence around the process of community service, and emphasize our core value of the imperative to give back to our school and local communities. This day makes a bold and clear statement about who we are and what we stand for.
With 16 projects that benefited 11 different non-profit organizations, we served kids, adults, and the natural world — doing trail maintenance, farming, knitting, gardening, painting, mentoring, warehouse management, food service, sorting clothes and other necessities for kids in need; we worked with kids and adults with developmental disabilities, restored our very own Primrose Creek and beautified our campus, helped rescue dogs find homes, picked up litter, visited nursing homes, scrubbed fire station floors, and so much more. In one day, we made a giant impact.
But impact wasn't just what this day was about. At the all-school assembly that began the day, students reminded me that we serve because it feels good, because it's empowering to give back as an entire student body, and simply because it's needed. We spend a lot of our lives taking from the communities that support us, and it's the least we can do to give a little back.
This Service Day was part of a larger effort by our student-run Service Society, as well as by me, as Service Director, to move the big giving heart that Solebury possesses more front and center. We're looking forward to more all-school Service Days and many other service projects in the future! If you'd like to get involved in Solebury's Service Society, or community service efforts in general, contact me at smay@solebury.org.
Here is a full list of the organizations we partnered with for our all-school service day: Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Spin, Inc., Rolling Harvest, Roots to River Farm, Carversville Farm Foundation, Bucks County Audubon Society, Bowman's Hill Wildlife Preserve, Face to Face, Friends Village Retirement, New Hope Manor, New Hope Fire & Rescue, Lulu's Dog Rescue, Operation Gratitude, Warm-up America, and of course our very own Solebury School.
Sarah has taught at Solebury School for 11 years. A job with AmeriCorps after college inspired her love of community service. She spent Service Day working for Operation Gratitude and the New Hope Fire & Rescue.