“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Today, we celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at our annual assembly honoring the iconic civil rights leader. From our youngest learners teaching us their song about Martin to our middle school students reading poetry that recognizes his important work, we are a community engaged in honoring his commitment to service and how each of us can contribute to making a difference in our world.
This is also the week we typically kick off our annual MLK Jr. collection drive to benefit the Pine Street Inn. Over the years, we’ve collected hats, coats, gloves, socks, gift cards, boxes of oatmeal, hand warmers, soap, and many other personal items for some of the neediest people in the Boston area. This valued partnership with Pine Street Inn allows Belmont Day to act on our core value of caring and work together towards a common goal.
This year, however, we will focus our community service project on those affected by the devastating wildfires on the West Coast. While they may be farther from our home in Massachusetts, those impacted are very close to our hearts. As Mr. Largay mentioned in his column last week, we will support a pre-kindergarten to grade 8 school in the Los Angeles area. We are in contact with the leadership at peer schools that have lost everything to the fires and need help at every turn. We have pledged to do our part to ensure that these schools on the other side of the country can welcome their students and families back to a teaching and learning community. In its effort to empower meaningful contributions, Belmont Day is eager to participate.
To that end, we ask our students to consider what makes their classrooms and learning spaces special. What do they love best about their school? Is it the make-believe area in pre-k? Finding new favorite books in the Erskine Library? Learning an instrument in music class? Using fresh new markers for coloring at Early Birds? Using field notebooks in science class? Using LEGO bricks after school or at clubs?
Each grade will determine a list of what makes their classrooms/learning spaces special, and we will then collect donations for those specific items to send to a school in Los Angeles. It may be some time before their school community is ready to receive these items, but we can start helping them get there now. There are details to work out (stay tuned), but we know we can take these first steps immediately.
Dr. King’s question, “What are you doing for others?” will guide us as we embark on this project. Building from the ashes will not be easy or quick for the communities in and around Los Angeles. At Belmont Day, we strive to make a positive difference in our school community, neighbors, and friends. Our work this winter will stretch our scope of collaboration a bit further and I’m excited to see what each grade values and chooses to share. Community service is about putting our values into action and doing our best to help others near and far.
