Ms. Anthony is an educator at Throckmorton Collegiate Independent School District in Texas who said, “we are a small rural community with an active senior citizen population. They love to be involved with the school but cannot always come to the school. Our students use philanthropy and service to provide support for this population.”
After incorporating the lesson Giving Tuesday, students decided to participate in a “Giving Day”. The day helped connect Ms. Anthony’s students to the local community, where they volunteered.
A team of seven middle school students joined together to clean out a barn for a local senior citizen in a project coined DOVE (Develop Organize Volunteer Engage). “This had a great impact because we are going to continue this work monthly with our other senior citizens,” said Ms. Anthony. “This is a great way to keep your entire community close together and working together.”
The students created and gave a presentation at the senior citizens during a Tuesday lunch. They created nomination forms so that community members could share their needs, and the students could provide support. The group of students that completed this project were described to be students that are not always highlighted in class. DOVE gave them an opportunity to shine and “they did outstanding!”
One student said, “I love being a part of DOVE because I love helping people.” Another reflected, “I enjoyed doing this project because it helps make us stronger people.”
The Learning to Give mini-grant helped provide transportation and lunch goodies. The funds were also used to create flyers and other materials about the school DOVE group to share with the community.