Community Service Day

Today is Community Service Day at GRACE.  That means every student in our high school was somewhere sharing the love of Jesus by serving our community, and our middle school students packed meals for Stop Hunger Now.  Since I am the yearbook adviser, I spent the day driving from place to place, photographing our kids and teachers as they served.   This is one of my favorite parts of being a yearbook teacher. 

One of the reasons I love this part of my job is the timing.  Ask any teacher, and they might tell you (if they are brave) that there reaches a point in the year when they begin to wonder what else they might have been good at or that they sometimes ask the question, "Why do we have students at this school?"  That part of the year comes at a different time for everyone, but for me, it is usually early October.  First quarter is drawing to a close, and I start feeling like Charlie Brown's teacher.  Getting this day at this time reminds me that we really do have great kids at this school.


The other reason I love this is because this generation that is often entitled serves well.  They don't choose this, but they do it cheerfully.  They have fun with each other and with the people they serve.  We usually get very positive feedback from the organizations we serve about how nice our kids are and how they would love to have them again.

I also love that kids get to know about some of these charities they would otherwise not have known about.  It shows them that there are people out there serving all the time.  It shows them that there are people who make service their lives.  The last time I got to serve with them, I discovered something about one of our organizations that I did not know - that they go through several thousand plastic bags a week.   When we returned home, we started collecting them to deliver to this ministry.  We have all learned about charities we never knew before.


Perhaps my most favorite part of the day is watching the kids interact with their teachers.  They have fun serving together and really enjoy each other.  This is always one of the hallmarks of GRACE, but it is even more fun to see in situations outside the classroom.  It happens at other times too, but there is something exceptionally special about seeing it in the context of service. 

Being a yearbook teacher means I get to see our teachers and kids on their best days.  I get to be there for the things they are proud of.  On days like today, they give me hope.


Please support any of the great charities we served today.
- Stop Hunger Now
- Thrift N Gift
- With Love From Jesus
- Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC
- Threshold Club House
- Reality Ministries
- Guardian Angel Thrift
- Mabopane Foundation
- Christian Life Home
- Lanier Home for Ladies
- Mercer Home for Men
- Habitat for Humanity
- Interfaith Food Shuttle