New Canaan High School SLOBs Work To Service The Community

Information via New Canaan High School Service League of Boys

NEW CANAAN, CT — A local high school organization offers boys and their parents a remedy to the growing epidemic of anxiety, depression, and loneliness that plagues this increasingly digital world by encouraging them to put down their devices and connect with each other through community service.

"Community service is one of the ways that we can protect ourselves from the impact of mental health issues," Dr. Frank Bartolomeo, Senior Clinical Advisor for Adolescent Services at Silver Hill Hospital and a featured speaker at the April meeting of the New Canaan High School Service League of Boys, said in a news release. "Anxiety and depression are disorders that can result in thinking too much in self-occupied ways. What community service does is get us out of ourselves."

According to a news release provided by the organization, SLOBs stands for Service League of Boys and features ways to connect with others across all ages and peer groups offering wellness in the "soup we are all swimming in" virtual world, according to Dr. Bartolomeo.

Discovering community offerings is an immeasurable benefit of membership. General meetings provide practice for community organizing and the opportunity to hear stories from featured speakers about the people served, servant leader role models and public safety, according to SLOBs.

Each June 1, newcanaanslobs.org opens registration for incoming and enrolled NCHS students to join or renew membership. Once a member and his parent join, they learn how to use a website tool to find and sign up for service hours and volunteer events around the school's local community.

In the spring, experienced members and their parents are invited to apply as philanthropy liaisons and board members. A slate of board leaders is appointed by a parliamentary committee each year and elected to serve by general membership, according to SLOBs.

You may see high school parents uploading details for volunteer opportunities on the sidelines of events this summer. This is because students are encouraged to begin volunteering at the end of the current school year and over the summer months.

Members currently work with 50+ philanthropic organizations with more than 70 different events each school year and have served our community with over 35,000 volunteer hours, according to SLOBs.

Student members commit to attending five meetings a year and contribute at least 10 hours of service. Parents are asked to contribute at least five hours of service and are asked to attend three meetings, according to SLOBs.

SLOBs is the largest service club at New Canaan High School with 250+ members. It was founded as a philanthropic organization whose mission is to initiate and promote educational and charitable endeavors that foster community responsibility and leadership, as well as strengthen the parent-son relationship, according to SLOBs.

In the early 1990s, the National Charity League (NCL) came to New Canaan from California thanks to a mother who was relocated from the west coast. NCL is a mother-daughter organization devoted to both education and charitable works in the community.

After having been involved for a number of years in this organization with their daughters, Janice Luddy and Mary Beth Fessler thought there should be a similar organization for their sons, according to SLOBs.

In the spring of 2004 they met with Ari Rothman, assistant principal at the high school, and Frank Tatto, guidance counselor, to propose a new club at NCHS that would be a parent-son organization committed to educating the boys about volunteerism and volunteering in the greater New Canaan area as part of the local public high school community. Their proposal was approved.

More information is available at newcanaanslobs.org.