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Neighborhood Service is a powerful way for students on the roundtable to deepen their community impact, their learning, and involve other students. Projects can be funded by the the roundtable budget or coupled with an existing grant – at no extra cost.
Service projects vary in scope. A service project can take 30 minutes or become ongoing and last for years! They can range from a one-time park clean-up to tutoring younger students once a week. Planning a project may seem a bit overwhelming. It’s not! Effective service simply needs to be educational for students and meaningful for the community. Service projects are a great opportunity to involve other students who helped gather pennies. Download the Introduction to Take Action section In this section, you will find:
TIP FROM THE FIELD: Organizations are great resources for service projects. As experts on the issues they are tackling, organizations might have advice or resources about addressing these needs through service. Or they might have their own volunteer opportunities for students. Read about how the Hungersford School Students Serve and Learn “My kids were so inspired by what they heard when they visited Lincoln Hospital and their homeless shelter that they organized a canned food drive and a book and toy drive to help even more!” - Nicole Shiu-Horowitz, Penny Harvest Coach, NYC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before students can create their own meaningful service project they must understand the issues they are working to find solutions for. Learning about community issues prepares students to create and lead a service project that is based on thoughtful consideration and expert knowledge. And, deeper learning about social issues reinfores academic skills and subject area learning too.
In this section, you will find:
REMINDER: Revisit the list of potential grantee organizations that students brainstormed (or will brainstorm) during the roundtable to seek their expertise. If students are still interviewing organizations, they might decide that an opportunity for a service partnership is one of their criteria to fund the organization.
TIP FROM THE FIELD: According to Penny Harvest Coach Tene Howard, “providing education/awareness to peers is service in and of itself.” Students should think about sharing what they’ve learned with the rest of the student body. ”When we went to visit Ronald McDonald House, our tour guide, Charlie…explained how he and others volunteer their time and so can we. When you think about it, not too many people volunteer in their community. Now every time I pass Ronald McDonald House, I look at the building a lot differently. I look at it as a place where you can find very generous people who are willing to help.” --Asia Thornton, Penny Harvest Leader, PS 188, Queens
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Philanthropy is giving of your time, treasure and talents. In this section, students explore their talents – what they have to offer to help their community. You can help students discover their unique and powerful abilities and match those against the needs they want to address.
Read about how PS 59 Brings Color to St. Barnabas Hospital Download the What Can We Do? section In this section, you will find:
TIP FROM THE FIELD: Students should think about all the human resources they have available to them to meet community needs, such as other students, family members, teachers and community organizations that might be able to help. They should also revisit their list of potential grantees. As part of their grant to provide materials for recreational therapy for patients in long-term care at the Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, roundtable students at IS 232 in Brooklyn decided to visit the facility regularly. The Penny Harvest Coach, Genina Burnett, remarked on how the students responded to the seniors with such ease. “I would not expect adults to be able to go in there and be so comfortable with the patients and start interacting with them.”
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Download the Into Action section In this section, you will find:
REMINDER: There is a teachable moment every step of the way as students take action. Students can continue research about the issue or graph their progress (i.e. How many cans of food have been donated for our canned food drive?). TIP FROM THE FIELD: Have a student or a committee responsible for involving other students. Invite other students to participate in doing service or give their classrooms an opportunity to plan their own service project. Read about how multiple grades at PS 174 Spring into Service “[Through service projects], the students are empowered to become community activists. They not only help the community but learn skills to take with them when they graduate.” -- Warren Brattner, Penny Harvest Coach
Celebrating, reflecting and evaluating helps students process what they’ve accomplished and reinforces their learning. There are many opportunities to reflect on the yearlong Penny Harvest, but you might consider smaller celebrations to mark the completion of a service project.
Download the Finishing Strong section In this section, you will find:
TIP FROM THE FIELD: A celebration can be inexpensive. Work with your PTA to cover the cost of a party or solicit in-kind donations of food from local businesses. Read about how students at PS 116 Lead by Example and let their good deeds be known “As part of a service project we were cleaning up trash on a section of the Belt Parkway. A guy pulled up and said, ‘what are you doing?’ I explained [the Penny Harvest] and he pulls out $25 and says ‘why don’t you buy all the kids a pizza for their good work.’” --Myron Cohen, Penny Harvest Coach
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