Every year, Allen Road Elementary School holds an event for Valentine’s Day for its students and families.

This year, the reach extended a little further.

The school held its first Labor of Love event Friday Feb. 6. The event included a Valentine’s dinner of soup, salad, beverages and dessert, music and movies — as well as an opportunity for families to give back to the community. Students and parents could make Valentine cards for American troops serving overseas, and they could also bid in a silent auction on soup bowls designed by Allen Road staffers. Proceeds from the auction were given to the Syracuse Rescue Mission.

Principal Dave Lunden said the event gave the school an opportunity to put what it teaches in terms of character education into practice.

“For our character ed program, we’re big believers in taking it outside the classroom,” Lunden said. “For us, it’s something we need to do more than just talk about. We call it CIA — character in action. This is a prime example of that. We’re doing things to put what we’ve learned in the classroom into action.”

Lunden said the Rescue Mission seemed an ideal partner.

“Given the soup theme, we thought they’d be a perfect organization to donate to,” he said. “They feed hungry people, and that’s what we’re doing tonight.”

In addition, the cards students and families made for the troops offer a connection to servicemen overseas.

“That’s why we called it the Labor of Love,” Lunden said. “We want them to know we appreciate what we’re doing, and we thought this was a good opportunity for us to do that.”

Lunden said he hoped to make the Labor of Love an annual event, one that combines family time with community service.

“This isn’t just for us and our families — it helps us connect with something beyond us,” Lunden said. “It’s something we can enjoy as a family while we help the community.”