Seattle Academy’s Community Service Organization meets every Tuesday to discuss what they can do for the community. Students have ideas of their own, and faculty advisers, Rick DuPree and Mia Mlekarov, suggest events and programs for those who want to help but do not know how. Most months, two event leaders take charge of an event that they organize for some time during the month. It is very easy to sign up for the events, and most of the weekly meetings are not mandatory.
For the November event, Isa Kaufmann-Geballe ‘15 and Jordan Feinstein ‘17 planned with Survive the Streets to have volunteers help out at a charity center over Thanksgiving break. Students were able to earn five service hours for the event. Isa and Jordan helped set up the event the day before so that on the 27th, the twelve student volunteers from Seattle Academy were ready to go when they arrived at the Millionair Club.
At the event, students served hot breakfasts to homeless men and women, and directly them by getting them the supplies they need to survive on the streets. These supplies included sleeping bags, blankets, warm coats, and more. Survive The Streets is proud to announce that with the donations received, this was the first year that they did not run out of coats!
For two weeks of November, CSO had a sleeping bag and blanket drive. Students could either donate their own new or lightly used sleeping bags and blankets, or donate directly to CSO so we could buy supplies. After only about a week and a half, students had filled all three of our bins, a family had donated over 80 tarps to keep the sleeping bags dry, and we had received generous donations that helped us provide even more the the charity center. On the 27th, the student volunteers got to see these sleeping bags and supplies go into good hands, with more to spare! The extra sleeping bags and blankets went to Tent City after the event.
On a day usually known for over-abundance for food, CSO volunteers helped to spread the surplus to the less fortunate, and helped better the lives of the homeless for the upcoming winter.
The students that attended the November 27th Survive The Streets event were:
- Charlotte Zinda ('18)
- Isa Kaufmann-Geballe ('15)
- Jasmin Fortin ('15)
- Adam Binford ('15)
- Isaac Zinda ('16)
- Reid Rogers ('17)
- Joshua Lindenmayer ('17)
- Allie DiPasquale ('15)
- Emma Conklin ('17)
- Elle Jennings ('17)
- Margaret Sneeringer ('17)
- Marcus Story ('17)
To see more pictures from the event and to learn more about Survive The Streets, visit their Facebook page.