Posted 2:08 am Wednesday, December 05, 2007
'Four As One' Project Underway
By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer
Students from Grace Community School could be spotted across the Tyler area Tuesday, ringing the Salvation Army bells in front of stores, sorting through canned goods at the East Texas Food Bank and stuffing envelopes with information for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Tuesday marked the first day of the three-day "Four As One" effort among four private schools in the Tyler area.
It's the first time students from the usually-competitive All Saints Episcopal School, The Brook Hill School, Bishop T.K. Gorman Catholic School and Grace have coordinated to focus their community service efforts within the same week.
Grace and The Brook Hill School performed their community service Tuesday, while All Saints will do its Wednesday and Gorman on Thursday.
Brook Hill invited foster and adoptive families from Arrow Child and Family Ministries to their campus Tuesday for a Christmas carnival planned just for them, while Grace students volunteered at more than a dozen different organizations.
Some Grace students stepped in as bell ringers for the Salvation Army on Tuesday.
Austin Sudduth and Austin Blythe, juniors at Grace, were outside the Brookshire's on Rice Road Tuesday morning wearing Santa hats and clanging their bells as shoppers walked by depositing coins in the red kettle.
"It's a good way to build character and help the community ... and show people joy," Austin Blythe said. "It's a cool experience."
He said he likes the idea of the private schools joining up and expects a lot will get accomplished because they are working together.
Students who volunteered at MADD stuffed envelopes with information about the group's annual campaign, but they also learned about victims of drunken driving crashes.
"It's definitely made me more aware of everyone that can really be affected by drunk driving," Rachel Worthen, a junior at Grace, said of her experience at MADD Tuesday. "You value life a lot more."
Kim Higgins, program specialist for MADD, said the group of girls who worked at her office Tuesday was a huge help.
"I bet they saved us a week's worth of work," Ms. Higgins said. "We were so excited when we got that letter (about the project)."
Staff Writer
Students from Grace Community School could be spotted across the Tyler area Tuesday, ringing the Salvation Army bells in front of stores, sorting through canned goods at the East Texas Food Bank and stuffing envelopes with information for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Tuesday marked the first day of the three-day "Four As One" effort among four private schools in the Tyler area.
It's the first time students from the usually-competitive All Saints Episcopal School, The Brook Hill School, Bishop T.K. Gorman Catholic School and Grace have coordinated to focus their community service efforts within the same week.
Grace and The Brook Hill School performed their community service Tuesday, while All Saints will do its Wednesday and Gorman on Thursday.
Brook Hill invited foster and adoptive families from Arrow Child and Family Ministries to their campus Tuesday for a Christmas carnival planned just for them, while Grace students volunteered at more than a dozen different organizations.
Some Grace students stepped in as bell ringers for the Salvation Army on Tuesday.
Austin Sudduth and Austin Blythe, juniors at Grace, were outside the Brookshire's on Rice Road Tuesday morning wearing Santa hats and clanging their bells as shoppers walked by depositing coins in the red kettle.
"It's a good way to build character and help the community ... and show people joy," Austin Blythe said. "It's a cool experience."
He said he likes the idea of the private schools joining up and expects a lot will get accomplished because they are working together.
Students who volunteered at MADD stuffed envelopes with information about the group's annual campaign, but they also learned about victims of drunken driving crashes.
"It's definitely made me more aware of everyone that can really be affected by drunk driving," Rachel Worthen, a junior at Grace, said of her experience at MADD Tuesday. "You value life a lot more."
Kim Higgins, program specialist for MADD, said the group of girls who worked at her office Tuesday was a huge help.
"I bet they saved us a week's worth of work," Ms. Higgins said. "We were so excited when we got that letter (about the project)."
Grace Community School student Morgan McClenny hands cans of food out from the bottom of a large cardboard box at the East Texas Food Bank on Tuesday afternoon.
Another group of students weeded out dented and rusted cans and expired packages from boxes and boxes of goods at the East Texas Food Bank.
"I think it's important for us to get outside of our own worlds and help other people rather than just do what we want to do all the time," Michelle Wimberley, a freshman at Grace, said as she and other students clad in green food bank aprons sorted boxes of canned goods.
Maddie Shook, a ninth grader at Grace volunteering at the food bank, said she believes every teenager should get involved in the community.
"Otherwise you're living in the whole homework-school bubble...," she said. "But this is really helping people."
The "Four As One" project will make one really big impact, Maddie said.
"It's really making a statement on how the private schools are reaching out and that they really do care," she said. "There's so much talk, for example in football season, about the rivalries ... it's cool to see all the schools unite and do something productive together."
Robert Bush, executive director of the East Texas Food Bank, said it had been a fun day for the food bank.
"The high school students bring energy and enthusiasm and fun to whatever they do, so it's fun to go out there and see them processing what will become thousands of pounds of food for families in need this holiday season," Bush said.
Hunger is one of those hidden issues, he said. More than 177,000 people in East Texas live in poverty and need help.
Projects such as this help make hunger a real issue for students, he said.
"Many people, they'll hear about it and it's kind of a foreign thought to think that somebody two neighborhoods away is not sure where the next meal is coming from - but that's the reality all across East Texas," he said.
Students have a chance to be exposed to the issue by being part of the process.
"The grocery bag doesn't get into the family's hand unless what we do here happens," he said. "Seeing that and being involved in it does make it a little more real."
Looking around at the cases of food she knows will go to families in need, Maddie said, "It makes me feel proud that I was part of the process of making it happen - instead of just knowing about how families are in need, but actually doing something about it. It makes me feel really good."
The students sorted through more than 10,000 pounds of food, food bank officials said.
The sorting and inspecting is done primarily with volunteers, "so groups like this are critical for us this time of year," Bush said.
He praised the "Four as One" project.
"They can leverage the energy of four different schools to make a real impact in Tyler," he said. "At the end of the three-day process I think Tyler will be different as a result of that. We know that to be true for us here."
"I think it's important for us to get outside of our own worlds and help other people rather than just do what we want to do all the time," Michelle Wimberley, a freshman at Grace, said as she and other students clad in green food bank aprons sorted boxes of canned goods.
Maddie Shook, a ninth grader at Grace volunteering at the food bank, said she believes every teenager should get involved in the community.
"Otherwise you're living in the whole homework-school bubble...," she said. "But this is really helping people."
The "Four As One" project will make one really big impact, Maddie said.
"It's really making a statement on how the private schools are reaching out and that they really do care," she said. "There's so much talk, for example in football season, about the rivalries ... it's cool to see all the schools unite and do something productive together."
Robert Bush, executive director of the East Texas Food Bank, said it had been a fun day for the food bank.
"The high school students bring energy and enthusiasm and fun to whatever they do, so it's fun to go out there and see them processing what will become thousands of pounds of food for families in need this holiday season," Bush said.
Hunger is one of those hidden issues, he said. More than 177,000 people in East Texas live in poverty and need help.
Projects such as this help make hunger a real issue for students, he said.
"Many people, they'll hear about it and it's kind of a foreign thought to think that somebody two neighborhoods away is not sure where the next meal is coming from - but that's the reality all across East Texas," he said.
Students have a chance to be exposed to the issue by being part of the process.
"The grocery bag doesn't get into the family's hand unless what we do here happens," he said. "Seeing that and being involved in it does make it a little more real."
Looking around at the cases of food she knows will go to families in need, Maddie said, "It makes me feel proud that I was part of the process of making it happen - instead of just knowing about how families are in need, but actually doing something about it. It makes me feel really good."
The students sorted through more than 10,000 pounds of food, food bank officials said.
The sorting and inspecting is done primarily with volunteers, "so groups like this are critical for us this time of year," Bush said.
He praised the "Four as One" project.
"They can leverage the energy of four different schools to make a real impact in Tyler," he said. "At the end of the three-day process I think Tyler will be different as a result of that. We know that to be true for us here."
