Below is a series of letters from Nicole Campbell’s Participation in Government class regarding community service projects they undertook for credit.
To the editor:
My name is Natalie Cordaro and I am currently a senior at Baker High School in Baldwinsville. For my Participation in Government class, we were assigned to pick an issue, globally or locally, that needs to be changed for the better. My specific group got to choose a local issue, and we decided that hunger was a major problem here in New York state. We felt like this cause was important because food is one of the obvious forms of survival, and there are so many people out there struggling on a daily basis just to have food for the day. Yearly, 2.3 million people in New York rely on emergency food assistance. Poverty rates have increased, which automatically increases this dire need for food. Our group decided to contact the Samaritan Center in Syracuse in order to help their organization grow. They became the Samaritan Center back in 1981, when a public soup kitchen, Unity Kitchen, closed down. They turned the church turned into a place to make and distribute food for the hungry. They have become popular ever since, serving over 115,000 meals in 2015. As I was learning more about their organization and what they do, it truly made me appreciate everything that they do for the hungry. They offer so many ways that everyday people can get involved with their efforts. Our group decided to raise money in order to buy supplies that they needed off of their Wish List (located on their website). We ended up raising around $60 and bought canned fruits and vegetables, oatmeal, napkins and sandwich bags. We felt really accomplished that we were able to contribute to their progress in helping to end hunger in New York. This topic of hunger is one of the most important issues, not just locally, but everywhere around the world. By everyone helping out somewhere small, these actions can definitely change the world for the better.
Natalie Cordaro
Baker High School
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To the editor:
I am part of Mrs. Campbell’s PIG/Economics class, and our group did a final project on raising awareness for endangered species. We raised money by selling pins throughout our school, and we managed to raise over $90 to put towards donations. At the community service fair, there were many people that bought pins and I would like to thank them because they were the ones that pushed the limit and helped us reach our goal of $90. Since every $30 goes towards adopting an animal, we are now able to adopt three different animals. Each adoption includes a stuffed plush animal. We plan to donate the animals to the library for the kids to play with. It is partly a thank you to the library for allowing us to host our community service fair in their community room, and also to add brand new toys to the children’s area so the kids have something new to play with. I am truly thankful to everyone who donated that allowed us to adopt three animals, and I hope that our efforts will cause others to raise awareness and donate as well.
Gabriella Hahn
Baker High School
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To the editor:
The senior class at C.W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville is doing a project to help raise awareness for a global issue. So our group chose to focus on world hunger, and raising money to donate to stopworldhungernow.com. Also, we are getting involved at school by raising awareness to students. As a group we are hoping to raise some money but more importantly open some of the eyes of the people who don’t realize how fortunate we are. We wanted to thank the community for all of the support shown throughout the past week or two, especially those who donated or attend our convention at the public library. Our project was a great success for only a small sacrifice, and we thank you for helping us concur many world issues.
Jim Hahn
Baker High School
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To the editor:
I would like to draw attention to the community service projects my fellow students and I have been vicariously working on. These projects have taken up around three weeks of our class time, and cumulatively, we have volunteered over 500 hours just for this project.
Yesterday at the Baldwinsville Public Library, my group and I presented our issue: Poverty in Central New York. The presentation went fairly well, and I believe we were able to leave an impression on everyone who we talked to. However, only 87 community members were able to attend. I believe that more people would have liked to hear about our topic, but were simply too busy to attend on a Monday night.
Through PEACE Inc., a local nonprofit with a location in Baldwinsville, as well as multiple in Syracuse, my individual group of five people were able to donate three carloads of used clothing (acquired from friends and relatives). This is pretty terrific alone, especially when you consider that clothing is an item always in high demand. However, this is not all we did! Through New Hope Church, we were granted a $100 donation, with which we purchased toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and other various toiletries. We donated these as well. Lastly, throughout the last few days of school, we are collecting gently used school supplies from students who would normally just be disposing of them. PEACE will certainly place them in better hands.
I hope that this draws attention towards PEACE Inc., because they do wonderful things and can always use more donations. Poverty is a lot closer than the community might know, with Syracuse being in the top 10 cities in the nation with the highest poverty rate.
In addition: Recently in my Participation In Government/Economics class, we viewed the classic movie “Pay it Forward.” This led to a service project that we have been working on for the past few weeks.
A requirement of this was that we performed a random act of kindness throughout one of our days in class. My group chose to write positive messages on Post-It notes and stick them all throughout the building on a Monday morning, which are notoriously given a bad reputation.
These messages were short and simple, with some of them saying “Seize The Day,” “Smile” and “Think Positive.” Something that quick can make the day for somebody else.
I wanted to share this so others could be exposed to it and try spreading kindness as well.
Ethan Craig
Baker High School
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To the editor:
Homelessness is a rising issue globally, as well as locally. There are many contributing factors to this problem. They include mental illness, abuse, lack of income and/or opportunities. People who fall into homelessness do not likely recover quickly, if at all. Others who are not as unfortunate do not give enough attention or help to those in need. This results in a depressing, unfulfilled life.
So, what is the solution? What work needs to be done? This is something that ones commonly push aside as “too much work.” However, at my high school, three friends and I organized a clothing drive via the Rescue Mission. It was not time consuming to be a part of and it is helping many in need. The items collected will stay local to fight those in need in our community.
But this local issue cannot be solved by a few teenagers collecting unwanted clothes. Much more needs to be accomplished. If you are compelled to aid this problem, please contact your local Rescue Mission and they would be more than pleased to receive more volunteers.
Does the harsh atmosphere of this world ever get to you? Do the apathetic attitudes towards others’ problems and feelings get you down? A simple way I recently learned to brighten someone’s day or bring a smile to someone’s face is to do a random act of kindness.
The initial reaction to this movement might be negative. Critics could say that it will go unnoticed or that people are too busy to care. However, these acts are quick and meaningful to the recipient. It can be as little as picking up an item somebody dropped or as big as buying them dinner. Anything that ignites a human connection that every person needs to thrive.
If a person is kind to you, don’t let that good act die! Pay it forward! Keep the kindness rolling by showing manners and thankfulness throughout your day. Trust me, this movement is incredibly profound in its simplicity.
Ciarra Martinez
Baker High School
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To the editor:
Homelessness is a rising issue globally, and one that we are unfortunately seeing a rise of here in Syracuse. At the beginning of this school year, we had two representatives from the Rescue Mission in as guest speakers in our Participation in Government class. Personally, I believed their presentation was eye opening, I guess I never realized how serious that issue was here at home. I always think of the one or two people I see down by the mall, or occasionally on Route 31, never really adding those people up in my mind to see how great of a number actually exists. Of the estimated 150,000 people in Syracuse, according to the annual census, around 1,000 of those people are reported homeless, being they live in an emergency shelter, or some even sleeping outside. While in comparison this doesn’t seem like a great majority, that is still a number of families, men, women and children, all without a place to call home.
My group recognized the severity of this issue and decided to help through a community service project. With the help of Donation Coordinator Jeannine Goodrich, we were able to organize a weeklong clothing drive that we set up throughout the hallways of our school. In cleaning out my own closet, I realized how much clothing I keep just to have that I don’t really wear anymore. Being educated on the needs of others in my community was the push I needed to really let those things go and give them to somebody who could put them to better use than I have. Together, the students and staff of Baker High School raised over 350 pounds of clothing in one week to donate to our local Rescue Mission so that those 1,000 people could live a little more comfortably.
Personally, I had always viewed community service as something that you had to dedicate an entire weekend to, or put in a lot of work for, when really, taking an hour or two to do something as simple as cleaning out your closet can have just as big of an impact. It doesn’t take much to help improve somebody’s life, and knowing that we could help our local community was well worth the time we put in.
There are many things you can do to brighten somebody’s day. It could be as big as footing their bill at the grocery store, or smiling at them as you walk by. My group decided to pay positivity forward to our classmates by handing out various types of candy in the halls and in our classes. I took lollipops, Ciarra had Hershey kisses, Jarad had Kit Kats and Adam brought peanut butter cups. We didn’t really think people would care that much but I guess when you walk into a room full of 17- and 18-year-olds with a bag in handful of lollipops, it changes things. Everybody was very appreciative, kind of confused at first, but they were excited nonetheless to randomly receive a piece of candy. It was nice to be able to make other people that happy and excited by just buying a bag of lollipops and handing them out. It just goes to show that you don’t have to necessarily go out of your way to be kind to people, or to include them. And sometimes that’s all somebody needs is just a smile and a piece of candy.
Alyssa Liscum
Baker High School
