Service Spotlight – PS 124

January 29, 2010 at 4:02 pm | Posted in School Service Spotlights | 1 Comment
Tags: animals, community, food drive, Haiti relief, recycling, service, the elderly, the environment

This week’s Service Spotlight Series ends with a closer look at the service activities that PS 124, the Silas B. Dutcher school, in Park Slope, Brooklyn has incorporated into its school culture. With the support and guidance of Principal Annabelle Martinez, PS 124 is answering President Obama’s call to service with an intergenerational project that is projected to include every student in an act of service to their community by the end of the school year.

The school has partnered with the Park Slope Geriatric Day Center (PSGDC) and the Methodist Hospital in Park Slope to offer their students, aged 4 – 11, various opportunities to give back to the community in a positive way.  PS 124 believes that service empowers children and helps them develop respect, responsibility, citizenship and empathy for others. According to Joanne Manna, the guidance counselor at PS 124, “Service is nothing new at PS 124. We have a number of on-going in school service projects in our building including the 5th grade School Service Monitors who specialize in peer tutoring and peer helping, 4th grade Ambassadors who meet and greet parents and guests, and serve as chaperones on service outings, and our latest project: the 3rd grade “recyclers” called The “Green Team” . We have raised money for animal shelters, saved animals on the endangered species list, collected pennies for patients, held a canned food drives for the needy, and we have just recently ended a week long bake sale called “Help for Haiti” for the earthquake victims. Everyone in school pitched in and we raised $680!” With so many uplifting acts of service already going on at the school, it’s amazing and inspiring that PS 124 finds the time to contribute to their community even more. Still, they have found yet another way to give back via their intergenerational project at the Park Slope Geriatric Day Center.

Students from PS 124 have visited the PSGDC at least once a month this school year, with each month bringing a new activity to the center. Their first visit came in the form of a Halloween Parade for the residents of the PSGDC.  Students dressed up in their Halloween costumes and paraded over to the PSGDC to meet the residents and share Halloween treats.  The following month, PS 124’s 2nd and 3 rd grade Special Education class along with the 4th grade school ambassadors, went over to the PSGDC to share stories and Thanksgiving dessert with the retirees. Oscar, a 2nd grade student at PS 124, when asked why he liked visiting the senior center, said, “Celebrating Thanksgiving with our friends is a gift from my heart!” In December, Kindergarten classes from PS 124 visited the Methodist Hospital and PSGDC and sang carols for the residents, visitors and staff. With the help of their parent coordinator, 2nd and 3rd graders also got the opportunity to spread Holiday cheer at the center, in the way that only children can.

In February, PS 124 plans to attend a Valentine’s Day dance at the PSGDC. “Having the children from PS 124 visit our day program is a highlight for our members,” said Josephine Brown Director of PSGDC. “The energy and the laughter of the children really brightens up the day for adults with memory loss, who are too often isolated or in settings where they only see older people. They really appreciate that the kids WANT to come to the Center and share some time together. Intergenerational activities benefit everyone!”

Check back periodically to see more of the wonderful service activities PS 124 is cooking up for with their new friends at the Park Slope Geriatric Day Center throughout the year!