BEDFORD, N.Y. - Last month, more than 300 Fox Lane High School juniors and 40 staff members visited 26 local organizations for a morning full of volunteer work during the fourth annual Community Volunteer Day, celebrated in partnership with the Suzanne Grant Foundation. Created in memory of Suzanne Grant, a prolific volunteer who believed strongly in giving back to her community, Community Volunteer Day has become a favorite event for students and staff alike.
“Today is a day about helping others,” Dave Grant, Suzanne’s husband and the force behind the Suzanne Grant Foundation, said during the opening ceremony. “Today is a day about doing things that are not just for yourself. If you take home one thing today, let it be about the importance of lending a hand. We can make the world a better place. And it starts right here, right now. Today.”
After breakfast and the opening ceremony, students were bused to their volunteer locations. They spent a few hours tackling projects the organizations identified for them before heading back to school for lunch and reflection.
“Every week we do a home delivery,” Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry volunteer Lulu told a group of student volunteers before they started. “You guys are going to help make the bags.”
The students had a list of items to move, organize and put into bags so they could be brought to community members who have a hard time getting around.
At 914Cares, students took on a similar project, putting together and packing kits that are distributed to the community. One group created essential hygiene kits, which contain quality hygiene essentials for whole families. About 1,000 of them are distributed each month. A second group made Flow Kits, which contain a month’s worth of menstruation products to ensure no one misses out on school, work or daily life because they can’t afford supplies. During the school year, 914Cares has two student volunteer events each month.
“We try to incorporate students and encourage a love of giving back,” said Elly Scott, the organization’s volunteer manager. “We’re happy to have them.”
Fox Lane Middle School head custodian Jim Burr was also appreciative of the help students provided.
“I’m so thankful for the students who came over today,” he said as he looked around at all the mulching that had been done. “It would’ve taken a month to get all this done. They were a huge help.”
Students had a lot of options of places to sign up. There were groups learning about volunteer firefighting and emergency medical services at the firehouse, painting kids’ faces at Neighbors Link, scooping hay at Muscoot farm and designing art for the windows in the teen room at the Mount Kisco Public Library.
“I wanted to volunteer here because I came to this library when I was little,” Eliana Chiariello said as she painted flowers on the glass door.
While some students hadn’t done much volunteering before, others were proud to talk about the work they do in the community.
“I’m a volunteer environmental educator at Teatown,” Eliana said.
“I volunteer at the hospital,” Anushka Arvind said.
“I volunteer at the church,” said Sasha Pascual. “We help with cleaning and decorate for events for the kids.”
At the end of the day, students came back for pizza, ice cream and a little reflection.
“Today was special, but the activities and things that you were involved in today are not just about today,” said Fox Lane Principal Dr. Jennifer Amos. “I encourage you to follow-up at the places you visited today or talk to some of your friends and learn a little bit more about where they were involved. Find ways that you can continually give back to our community because when we’re all chipping in and working to make the world a little bit better, we do. We make those little incremental changes when we’re taking care of one another and when we’re extending our time and energy to our community.”
Article courtesy of Bedford Central School District.
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