Schools
Holy Innocents' Students Give Back During ‘Great Day of Service'
Students from the Upper School fan out across metro Atlanta, volunteering for nonprofit organizations.
Twice a year, Upper School students at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School (HIES) leave their books and laptops in their lockers and fan out across Metro Atlanta to serve nonprofits during the Great Day of Service. HIES students and faculty mow, rake, garden, paint, cook, pack and work for Habitat—anything to help those in need.
Their efforts on Tuesday, Oct. 4, were extended to sites such as Furkids, Habitat for Humanity ReStore and Clifton Ministries. Senior Amanda Gibson said what she enjoyed most about the Great Day of Service was being with her classmates and working alongside one another to help those in need. “It gives us the opportunity to come together and give back to our community as a group.”
I CARE Atlanta was one site that welcomed a group of HIES student-volunteers. I CARE helps Metro Atlanta residents to get “stabilized” through food, clothing, furniture and other donations, as the nonprofit’s employees describe it. The Doraville facility serves up to 16 families a day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
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HIES students helped in the I CARE Atlanta food pantry, unpacking foodstuffs from donors such as Kroger, Fresh Market and even Papa John’s, which gives pizzas to families who are living in rooms where only microwaves are available. Students also packaged foods for delivery. Packaged donations, for example, are sent to a nearby after-school program for children.
“This is helping me try to get my feet on the ground and my life back together,” one recipient said as she picked up her donations Tuesday morning. “I moved back home to Atlanta last year. I’ve gotten a job. Now it’s about saving up and getting better.”
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On the fall Great Day of Service, some 575 HIES students, faculty and staff donated time and energy to several other nonprofits new to the service list this year, including Salvation Army in both Atlanta and Lawrenceville, A.G. Rhodes, Health & Rehab (Cobb), HELP Org Inc and the Good Samaritan Health Center.
“It all added up to 19 sites this year, the most Holy Innocents’ has ever had,” Terry Kelly, 12th-grade dean, said.
