Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.”
With those words in mind, it would be fair to say that hundreds of great people – students, parents, faculty, staff and community members – recently gathered at Harriton High School to participate in the annual MLK Afternoon of Service, a fun-filled, District-wide affair with a two-fold mission: to celebrate the life and works of the great civil rights leader and to help serve those-in-need!
In another pertinent quote, Dr. King asks: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?” With that question in mind, what did all of these great volunteers actually do for others at this year’s event?
Student organizations and parent-volunteers from the Home & School Associations (HSA) arranged an array of service projects supporting a wide range of estimable non-profits and the causes they champion.
- Gladwyne's HSA collected/sorted toiletries and created cards for Broad St. Ministries, which provides access to life-sustaining services for 7,000+ individuals-in-need in Philadelphia each year.
- Merion's HSA created animal toys for the Providence Animal Shelter and Morris Animal Refuge, a pair of animal welfare organizations committed to saving (animal) lives and finding positive and humane outcomes for animals-in-need.
- Harriton’s National Honor Society (NHS) put together snack bags and wrote kind and encouraging notes for patients at the Ronald McDonald House, which supports families of children undergoing difficult medical treatments. The NHS also joined the Environmental Club in creating bottle bird feeders and holding a glass collection for Bottle Underground.
- Harriton’s HSA made thank you cards for staff at the Children’ Hospital of Philadelphia.
- Cynwyd's HSA collected and sorted baby items for the Maternity Care Coalition, which provide services to pregnant women and families with children ages 0-3.
- Penn Valley’s HSA organized a winter clothes and shoe collection for Cradles to Crayons, a non-profit with a simple goal: to make life better for children-in-need.
- Participants in this year’s Dr. Harriton fundraiser created no-sew blankets for oncology patients at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
- Harriton’s buildOn club held a bake sale raising money to fight the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations.
- Harriton’s Physics and Math clubs put together and decorated puzzle and game bags for the Parkinson’s Council, an organization dedicated to improving quality of life for people with Parkinson’s, care partners and families-in-need.
- Harriton’s Service League made cards for The Girls School in Pakistan.
- Harriton Student Council made goody bags for patients at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
- Harriton’s Technology Student Association (TSA) held a toy collection for the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), a non-profit dedicated to saving Philadelphia’s homeless and at-risk pets
- The LMHS HSA made care packages and cards for The Philadelphia Anti-Violence Project, which provides a wide range of intervention, prevention and support services to victims of violence and/or have lost a loved one to homicide.
- The LMHS Student Council organized a fundraiser benefiting The Ronald McDonald House. Students also made worry dolls for children undergoing treatment at the Philadelphia facility.
- The Welsh Valley HSA created kindness cups for the homeless shelters in the Greater Philadelphia area.
Thank you to all of the volunteers who worked to make this year's Afternoon of Service a tremendous success and to all of the students, parents and community members who came out to support the event! To view a slideshow with pictures from the event, click below!