There may not have been any classes on Monday, Jan. 16, but over 200 students from All Saints Episcopal Day School, Mustard Seed School and Stevens Cooperative School spent the day learning what Dr. King meant when he said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is ‘What are you doing for others?’”
This “Day of Service” included children from Kindergarten through 8th grade working alongside teachers and parents in a wide range of activities.
“This is a ‘day on,’ not a ‘day off’” remarked one 8th grader. “A friend from another school was surprised I would come to school when I didn’t have to. But it’s the perfect way to spend MLK Day, and I told my friend I wouldn’t miss this.”
Volunteers from all three schools were mixed together, and the classrooms bustled like birthday parties. For the “Cooking with Love” project, young chefs helped prepare gallons of homemade lentil soup and trays of sugar cookies for the Hoboken Shelter. In the same room, industrious packers, part of the “TLC Body Care” project, assembled about 70 goodie bags of toiletries. The items, collected in school drives, were given to the Breakfast Plus Program at Grace Church Van Vorst in Jersey City.
“Look at all of those!” exclaimed one 1st grader, pointing out the pile of festively wrapped care packages. “Do you think the people who get these will be happy? I think they will.”
Another group filled the hallways collaborating over their “Community Mural” projects. In just two hours, over 40 middle school students worked together to create six 4 by 6 foot works of art. One group created what Martin Luther King’s Facebook page might have looked like, with references to Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges and James Madison. One of MLK’s “posts” reflected one of his inspiring quotes: “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Honoring the ideals
“This is what we’re all about,” noted Dr. David Penberg, Interim Head of School at Stevens. “Through their work and enthusiasm, our students and staff honored Dr. King’s ideals in the most tangible, meaningful way possible.”
At the “Feed Souls and Warm Hearts” project, older students cut swaths of fleece with fringe that the younger ones tied together to make “no sew” blankets and scarves for the In Jesus’ Name Ministries and the University Hospital in Hoboken. Students also created artistic placemats and assembled bagged lunches for the patrons of St. Matthews Lunchtime ministry.
While busily tying up pieces of fringe, one 4th grader reported that Martin Luther King’s greatest teaching was “to make change with words, not war.” The student went on to say, “I want to live my life like him. I want to make a difference.”
At the end of the day everyone gathered to share their experiences at All Saints Church, with a slideshow of pictures from the day, stories from the various service groups and a Martin Luther King themed laser light show.
All Saints’ Head of School, Jill Singleton, praised the students for their hard work and good spirits. She also thanked the over two dozen faculty and staff from both schools who donated their time that day. “It’s amazing what can happen when we come together,” Singleton noted. “These acts of service solidify in our students what we teach them everyday – that they can effect change in their community and in the world. Dr. King’s legacy lives on through the beliefs and acts of young people like ours.”