All Saints Episcopal Day School and Stevens Cooperative School Join Hands for a Day of Community Service in Hudson County in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.
On Monday, January 17th, students from All Saints Episcopal Day School and Stevens Cooperative School will be spending their day off from classes answering what Martin Luther King, Jr. called “life’s most persistent and urgent question: ‘What are you doing for others?’”
With the help of parents, faculty and staff from both schools, as many as 200 students from kindergarten through 8th grade are expected to roll up their sleeves on behalf of local shelters, soup kitchens, churches, and other charitable organizations in Hoboken and Jersey City, New Jersey.
While All Saints and Stevens have independently organized days of service and fund raisers for causes such as Haitian relief in previous years, the 25th anniversary of MLK Day marks the first time the schools are collaborating to promote Dr. King’s vision of people from all walks of life working together to solve social problems in their neighborhoods and, ultimately, the nation.
“This partnership makes wonderful sense because it sends an important message about community,” says Jill Singleton, All Saints’ Head of School. “This day honors Dr. King's life and legacy by engaging the children in meaningful, hands on service opportunities. Although we will start the day out as strangers to one another, our service buddies will experience first-hand the formation of community as they make new friends in service.”
“We constantly encourage students to think beyond themselves,” says Zoë L. Hauser, Stevens’ Head of School, who notes that community service is a hallmark of progressive education. “This day of service will give them a chance to see how even the smallest actions can make a significant difference when people band together. And we hope some lasting friendships are born in the process.”
Among the enterprising projects:
- A sandwich squad will pack bag lunches and pass them out to the patrons of St. Matthew Trinity’s Lunch Time Ministry in Hoboken where students also will set tables with hand-made place mats and recite a poem about Martin Luther King, Jr.
- A cadre of young cooks will prepare a variety of dishes in their school kitchens and deliver them to The Hoboken Shelter.
- A brigade of packers will assemble goodie bags of toiletries (collected by the schools) for The Breakfast Plus Program at Grace Church Van Vorst in Jersey City.
- A “Spruce It Up” detail will paint murals, clean up Hoboken Parks and the Path/Train Station, among other tasks.
- An arts and crafts league will create swaddling blankets for Hudson Cradle in Jersey City and In Jesus’ Name Ministries in Hoboken.
- An impromptu chorus of “MLK Singers” will perform songs from the civil rights movement at Hoboken University Medical Center.
The student volunteers will begin the day at 9:15am at different school locations and then come together at 12:30pm at the Newport campus of Stevens Cooperative School (100 River Drive, Jersey City) for a Celebration Ceremony. They will share lunch, personal reflections and songs. The celebration will culminate in a slideshow of photos taken by student photojournalists assigned to capture the day’s events.
All Saints Episcopal Day School, an interdenominational school in Hoboken, New Jersey, has nurtured academic excellence and social responsibility for children through enriched experiences in an urban community since 1985. Founded with 16 preschoolers, All Saints now enrolls more 176 students from Nursery through Eighth Grade. The school's professional teaching faculty offers a core curriculum of language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, physical education and health; as well as an array of special subjects, including Spanish, art, music, dance and community service. The Day School is a ministry of All Saints Episcopal Parish, and fosters an environment in which students can embrace their fundamental connection with children from diverse faith backgrounds. Visit www.allsaintsdayschool.org
Stevens Cooperative School, founded in 1949, is the only nonsectarian independent elementary school in Hoboken. Originally an informal playgroup for children of the faculty at Stevens Institute of Technology, the School has grown into a full progressive elementary school, with campuses in Hoboken and Jersey City that serve almost 400 students from 2 year olds through the 8th grade. Stevens’ mission is to provide a challenging, meaningful progressive education within a supportive and cooperative community. Through a developmentally appropriate curriculum, designed for varied learning styles, Stevens’ students become confident life-long learners and responsible citizens with the skills to succeed beyond the School’s doors. Visit www.stevenscoop.org