By

Cindy Coughlin,   Alice B Beal Elementary School

Play:

Let's Dance!

Topics:

Community Involvement

Our school decided this year to not only eat healthy and get active, but truly make a difference. We wanted to do something for our neighborhood community. Our student Ambassadors chose to have a Sports Day at our school. Students would pay 0.50 to wear their favorite sports team shirt or sport team colors. Our teachers, staff and students all took part in the Sports Day and we raised over $100; the money was used to purchase re-useable bags for our local food bank. The student Ambassadors were able to walk to the food bank and distribute the bags to all the neighbors waiting in line at the food bank. Our student Ambassadors were surprised at the number of people who need some food assistance. As they handed out the bags, many people were grateful for our gift to the food bank.

How do you plan to make this Play last during the school year and beyond?

This special event was so popular that we do plan to have it every year. We feel the food bank needs our help to serve all the people in our neighborhood who rely on the food bank.

How did students and adults work together as a team?

Our school community came together for this special day. Everyone took part in the program. It was great to see all the different teams and team pride that everyone had for their favorite sports team.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Many students at our school are unable to bring in .50 for the Sports Day. We struggled with how much to charge for the day. .25 was too little and $1.00 was too much. So we settled on .50 and the teachers and staff paid for students who could not afford to contribute to our activity.