Friday, March 21st
Today, we volunteered at Perkins Center for the Arts in Collingswood. How did you contribute to this organization? How do you see your service impacting future students, campers, and visitors?
Amanda & Hannah: Today we made decomposable plant holders, seed tape, and organized art supplies. The decomposable plants boxes were made of newspaper, and are able to be planted in the ground with the seeds in the box (the box has soil in it). The seed tape was newspaper with a flour and water mixture on it. Seeds were placed on the flour and water and then the newspaper was folded and rolled. The plants we planted in the decomposable boxes will be planted by campers and they will be able to watch them grow and harvest them. The same thing will happen with the seed tape. The organized art supplies will make running the camps and activities easier and much more organized.
AJ & Dylan: We contributed to the Perkins Center by helping them organize and prepare for their upcoming children’s camp. This will impact future campers by easing their camp and making their camp more enjoyable. They will be able to enjoy organized shelves and plants without the preparation and set up work.
Edward & Zach: We contributed to the Perkins Center for the Arts by making origami boxes out of newspaper, and then put soil and seeds into them. Over the summer, children who participate in programs at Perkins will plant these seeds in the ground, and the newspaper will biodegrade. These new plants will improve the quality of Perkins’ garden, making the sight more beautiful for visitors of the center and more ecologically friendly.
Sasha & Billie Rae: Today at the Perkins Center for the Arts we helped for preparation of the garden by making newspaper boxes. These boxes are biodegradable because once planted in soil, they will completely disintegrate. In the beginning it was hard to learn how to fold them but once we got the hang of it we chose to do it for the rest of the day. The boxes will be used to plant individual seedlings that will provide for underprivileged people in our area. This seemingly small act can make a big impact for local families. Along with this it will be fun for the kids to plant the sprouts and learn about where and how their produce is made. It was a great and calming experience and we bonded very well.
Matt & Andrew: We made tons of boxes out of newspaper, which will allow future campers and students to plant seeds efficiently without worrying about the making of these boxes. It was a surprisingly difficult process to make these boxes and it would have taken the instructors a lot of time to try and explain it to the little kids. We also organized and cleaned a classroom that was being used for a camp in the summer that was very untidy
Gaelyn: Today we helped make boxes out of newspaper, plant seeds and organize a classroom. Our service will impact future campers because they will have plants to put into the ground during the summer.
Jordan & Jess: We started out making origami boxes out of newspapers. They are going to use these paper boxes to plant seeds this summer. Then after making a few boxes we went downstairs and organized a classroom used for children’s art classes. While we were making the boxes, it was interesting to think that later this year, our work would help a camper learn about gardening.
David & Kieran: Today, Kieran and I (David) enjoyed our trip to the Perkins Center in Collingswood. We spent first half of the morning making small boxes out of newspaper. After doing that for a little while, our group had made a ton of the little boxes, and we filled them with soil and seeds. Newspaper is environmentally safe, so the employee of the center, Sam, plans to put the newspaper boxes in the ground, and they eventually grow into a plant. How awesome is that?! We spent the rest of our time there organizing classroom supplies, so summer campers will easily be able to find what they need when making their arts and crafts. After a great day at the Perkins Center, we returned to MFS feeling great in our heart and enjoyed some great Roly Poly sandwiches! Yum! The two of us are very excited for the adventures that we will face in the upcoming week of Intensive Learning!
Katie & Isaac: Today at the Perkins Center of the Arts we had three different tasks at hand. First, we had to use our origami skills to create small boxes to put in them soil which have the seeds. Next, we were assigned to help out by putting the actual seeds into the soil and then the boxes. Also we made seed tape, where we put glue and set the seeds on the glue so that the seeds wouldn’t fall off and were separated correctly. And lastly, we organized the classroom for the campers coming in the summer. The impacts of our service would affect the campers because they would have all they needed prepared for them and the organization had extra hands help them get their activities set. In conclusion, our service trip to the Perkins Center of the Arts was a great way to stay active in the community and going green!
Adam & Carly: Today, we contributed to the organization by folding small boxes out of newspaper to hold seeds. Last year in neighborhood gardens, we got to plant seeds in similar newspaper boxes, so we really got to see firsthand how beneficial raising your own plant can be, and this gave us a greater appreciation for the job we did today. We can definitely see how this will impact future students at the Perkins center, because we got to share a similar experience during intensive learning last year. We predict that the future students will gain a better understanding of where food comes from, and the care necessary to raise everything that they eat.
Takdeer, Olivier, Dozier: We helped them create planting boxes so the younger kids can plant when the summer time comes. We were helping future students having a healthy environment to learn and grow in. We showed stewardship.
Kevin & Brad: At the Perkins Center, we contributed by making flower pots out of newspaper for the camp garden this summer. Our service impacts the future students by providing them with the pots that they or their camp supervisors will not have to make. Hopefully by doing so we will make the camp more enjoyable for the kids who attend it this upcoming summer.