Community service is an integral part of school life at Brooklyn Friends, and everyone participates. Listed below are some of the group activities that our students, their teachers, and the Parent and Teacher Association (PAT) have undertaken in the first part of the 2006-2007 school year.

PRESCHOOL
The children have begun to bake desserts for monthly delivery to the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue’s overnight shelter for women. Preschoolers collected pennies for the Common Cents drive to support children’s programs throughout New York City. They created a “mitten tree” that “sprouted” three bags of hats, scarves, mittens and gloves for children of the St. John’s Place Family Center. The preschool faculty also donated 25 children’s books on tapes to the girls and boys at St. John’s.

LOWER SCHOOL
Kindergartners created and sent holiday cards to homebound seniors who receive meals through City Meals-on-Wheels program. First graders planted bulbs in Cadman Plaza Park through the Partnership for Parks and coordinated the Lower School’s annual Trick or Treat for UNICEF drive, raising $1,180 for children in the developing world. First grade classes also visited the Cobble Hill Health Senior Center where they performed a dance directed by their dance teacher Helen Tocci and interviewed the seniors about their lives.

Second graders baked desserts for the Brooklyn Monthly Meeting’s Community Dinner at Schermerhorn Street. The second, third, and fourth grade recruited families to work as volunteers at the monthly dinner. Second graders publicized and coordinated the Common Cents Penny Harvest, collecting $1,749.50 to benefit NYC service organizations.

Third graders conducted a round table discussion about the needs in the community and are in the process of deciding what kind of community service project to do to help address one of these needs. Research was done by students to learn about the needs and to understand what organizations and influential people are already doing in the need area.

As a result of one child’s concern (whose uncle is a soldier), the third graders started a letter-writing project to soldiers who are away from home in an effort to let them know they are cared for and appreciated.

MIDDLE SCHOOL
Fifth graders visited seniors at the Carlton Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, a senior
center and residency in Fort Greene. Sixth Graders co-led (with the PAT) the schoolwide holiday gift drive for the St. John’s Family Center in Crown Heights. They visited and played with children at the Center, a day care program serving homeless families living in their residences and in the community. Seventh grade students planted bulbs with the first graders at Cadman Plaza and began visiting with the senior citizens at Helen Keller Services for the Blind, just around the corner at 57 Willoughby Street. One of the seventh grade groups initiated their own bake sale to raise money to buy toys for teenagers at the St. Johns Family Center. Thanks to their efforts, more than 10 sets of scarves and mittens were donated to the toy drive for the teenagers who rarely receive enough gifts for everyone.

Students in every middle school grade recycled BFS paper on Fridays and outfitted the school’s classrooms and offices with recycling containers and posters promoting re-cycling. Every grade also contributed to a “mini” fundraising drive for the CHIPS Soup Kitchen, raising $185 to help the many people who rely on CHIPS’ services.

UPPER SCHOOL
As a group, students continue to learn about community needs and the ways they can help. In December 2006, students heard from representatives of Lutheran Medical Center and the Brooklyn Blood Center. Also on Dec. 1, the Peace and Social Action Committee and the Gay and Straight Alliance presented a moving and thought-provoking assembly to commemorate World AIDS Day.

Students sponsored several schoolwide drives—coats and sweaters for the Island School on the Lower East Side, used cell phones to benefit Ronald McDonald House, and, with the athletics department, gently used athletic sneakers for the Shoes for Africa program. A small group of students spearheaded an additional toy drive for children at the Brooklyn Psychiatric Center. The Center had received toys in the past from a local bank that recently closed. More than 50 toys were collected from Upper School students and faculty.

PAT Community Service Committee
The PAT Community Service Committee began the school year by conducting a schoolwide event to fight hunger, known as “Empty Bowls.” More than 200 BFS families participated by making pinch pots in the school’s ceramics studio on October 21. The ceramic bowls symbolized the many children and adults in the world who go hungry every day. Mini-workshops and other educational activities were held simultaneously at BFS on Oct. 21 for children to learn more about hunger and how they can make a difference. Some 200 bowls were then fired and glazed by volunteers and the ceramics teacher, Ellen Kahan. The bowls were sold as part of the Holiday Crafts Fair in December, and the funds raised went to one of our local community providers, the CHIPS soup kitchen on Fourth Avenue.

The PAT also initiated a new community service project, “Letters for Change,” that was conceived by Piper Macleod, the Lower School music teacher. Approximately every six weeks there will be a table in the lobby full of envelopes, paper, and pens for children and families to write letters about issues they care about to people who are influential and can bring about change. Individual classes can host tables. The first and seventh grades hosted the first Letters for Change Day on November 16, focusing on ending hunger and reaching out to soldiers who are away from home respectively. More than 200 letters and cards were written. The second “Letters for Change” day in January focused on the crisis in Darfur (Sudan).

Along with the 6th grade, the Community Service Committee co-led the schoolwide gift drive for the St. John’s Family Center. Approximately 10 bags of toys were collected.

For more information on service activities at Brooklyn Friends, contact Carla Precht, Director of Community Service.