Local High School Students Work Hard to Give Back to Local and Global Communities in Need

Last week, 150 volunteers, including 125 local high school students, from around Fairfield County spent 8 days in Ecuador building classrooms, bathrooms and a medical clinic for communities in need throughout Ecuador. Through the local non-profit organization Builders Beyond Borders (B3), students spend their school break working to help people in these foreign communities with the mission to “build a better world” – opening their eyes to a new culture and the basic needs of these communities. These 150 student and adult volunteers will be followed by nearly 200 volunteers that will continue the work on these projects in March and April. Volunteers traveling in April will complete all projects started by the preceding groups, bringing the total number of community service hours served to nearly 17,000 hours.

Leading up to the service trips abroad, students began participating in the B3 program during the summer and fall of 2015. With enrollment opening in the spring of each year, local high school students, representing 25 local high schools from around Fairfield County, began completing local community service projects as a part of their commitment to year-round youth leadership through community service. Working most weekends from September through December, projects included: revitalization of the Earthplace grounds in Westport; cleaning up rivers, lakes and ponds in Norwalk, Westport and Bridgeport; partnering with Al’s Angels to assemble food bins for families in need; improving the grounds at STAR, Inc., working with Person to Person in Darien and many other projects. By January 1, 2016, volunteers had completed roughly 3,000 hours of community service locally.

According to Amy Schroeder-Riggio, Executive Director at Builders Beyond Borders, high school students participating in the B3 program gain invaluable skills in leadership, team building, cultural exchange and sensitivity during their local and international service work, and often begin a life-long commitment of giving back to their communities. “Giving back to their local neighborhoods and then traveling to and working in foreign communities challenges students to break through their comfort zones, work and interact with students from other schools, and participate in cultural exchange,” says Schroeder-Riggio. “By volunteering their time and working hard, students become valuable assets to their local and global communities.”

Enrollment for the 2016/17 program year will begin in April for high school students to participate in the 2016-2017 Builders Beyond Borders program. Students interested in learning more about B3 are encouraged to visit the B3 website; www.buildersbeyondborders.org or contact the B3 office at info@buildersbeyondborders.org or call (203) 847-5220.