Last December, Mr. Harb’s class adopted a local family for the holidays to provide gifts and even a Christmas tree for the children and their mother. Since then, Mr. Harb and his students have looked for additional ways to serve other individuals in Orange County. They recently took advantage of two opportunities: volunteering to spend time with residents at Sunrise Senior Living Center and partnering with Mrs. Torres’ 5th grade class at Fairmont North Tustin and with Mrs. Kunkle and students at Fairmont Prep in the Boys & Girls Club Easter Candy & Plastic Egg Drive.
During the trip to Sunrise Senior Living Center, students brainstormed activities they could complete with the residents and decided on origami and painting. Fairmont North Tustin has a long history of working with Sunrise, and the class thought it would be a good idea to continue that relationship through this service opportunity.
“They were super excited to think of things we could do with them and what they could share with them,” Mr. Harb said. “I think it’s awesome — it’s very reflective of their desire to want to do these kinds of things that help other people and benefit the community, and it’s just a matter of us giving them the opportunity to do that in an organized way.”
These 5th grade students continued to share their hearts of service by donating resources to help with Fairmont Prep’s community service efforts to provide Easter and plastic eggs for the Easter egg hunts for kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Buena Park, Garden Grove, and Stanton. Mr. Harb had seen the blurb regarding this opportunity in Fairmont Prep’s weekly newsletter and contacted Mrs. Kunkle. He and Mrs. Torres’ class then worked together to bring the needed amount of supplies, which excited the students to be able to help provide for kids who are not always able to participate in such activities.
“Easter egg hunts [are something we do all of the time], but some people aren’t as privileged to experience that, so I feel that we should give the same experience that we get to them,” 5th grader Aumrita S. said.
After all of the students had brought in their bags of candy and plastic eggs, Mrs. Kunkle visited Fairmont North Tustin in order to collect the supplies, treat the classes to come delicious homemade cupcakes, and share with them about the various service initiatives in which students at Fairmont Prep take part.
Even though the students did not directly interact with the kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs as they did with the residents at the senior center, they were still excited to be part of something that helped others.
“It feels nice knowing that you’re going to help someone with things [you can give],” 5th grader Ray D. said. “I know that it’s being used for a good cause, and I want to support that.”
The joy and enthusiasm in helping others is truly apparent on the kids’ faces and in their willingness to step up and take advantage of the service opportunities they hear about. Mr. Harb is eager to watch this desire to help others continue to grow.
“Seeing how involved and how passionate this group has been with the various projects and activities that we’ve done over the past few months makes me really excited to see what we can do beyond the scope of this class and this classroom,” he said. “Expanding our community service outreach into other grades, I think, is the next step in making this a part of who we are as a campus and as Fairmont.”
原文链接：http://www.fairmontschools.com/2018/03/12/hearts-of-service-continue-to-grow/
