Warrior Guides Community Service 12/07/13
The Warrior Guides had a productive day of service in on Saturday, December 7th, when 120 Chester 5th and 6th graders along with their Henderson High School Warrior Guides served at ten different non-profit organizations in Chester PA. The day began at Widener Partnership Charter School where the pairs met at 10:00am in the morning, and then dispersed to ten different projects. Most of the agencies were within walking distance, but three of the groups had to be bused to their work locations. These projects included:
1. Stinson Towers (senior living center) – 8 pairs of children participated. These kids, under the direction of three adults, cleaned 16 apartments. The cleaning included light dusting, cleaning out refrigerators, wiping down kitchen counter tops and cleaning out sinks, dusting, vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms. A nice centerpiece was left on the kitchen table of each apartment.
2. Chester Housing Authority (senior apartments) – 5 pairs of kids helped to string lights on bushes and tress in the park next to the apartments and prepared the Chester park for the holiday season. The seniors living nearby enjoyed a horse and buggy ride through the park when we were finished.
4. Chester Housing Authority (community garden) –10 pairs of kids weeded, cleaned and mulched the Bennett Gardens and distributed information about the garden to the community.
5. In Ian’s Boots (used shoe donation) –30 pairs of kids unloaded donated shoes from the agency’s van, cleaned them, deodorized them with a spray can, sanitized them, polished them, and then sized and tagged them.
6. Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired –6 pairs of kids worked on this project. The kids put together mason jars filled with soup ingredients for the clients of this organization and then made Christmas cards to go along with them. These gifts were distributed to the blind residents on Monday, December 16th,
7. Wesley House (homeless shelter) –4 pairs of kids decorated the shelter’s lobby and exterior for Christmas and hung a clothesline made of Christmas garland inside the lobby which they filled up with hats, gloves, and scarves for the children living at the shelter.
8. The Family Management Center (homeless shelter) – 3 pairs of kids decorated the shelter’s lobby and exterior for Christmas and hung a Christmas garland clothesline inside the lobby which they filled up with hats, gloves, and scarves for the children living at the shelter.
9. Used Clothing Store –20 pairs of kids unloaded all of the donated clothes from the West Chester community into the gym of Widener Partnership Charter School. They then separated them by type of clothing, gender, and size. They set up the clothing in three separate rooms (men, women and children) and then they made signage to identify the groupings. These clothes were be available to the families of the Braves at 1pm after the service projects were completed.
10. West Side Clean Up –25 pairs of kids were a part of a larger group of community volunteers who picked up trash and cleaned up a neighborhood on the west side of town.
After the group served for several hours, working hard on their different projects, the entire Warrior Guides club reconvened at WPCS for a special Chick-Fil-A lunch and Christmas party. Christ Community Church’s Youth Group served lunch and dessert before the group dismissed to the gym to shop for some gently used clothing for the Chester kids.
This was an incredibly beautiful day. The West Chester Warrior Guides had the opportunity to see many different parts of the City of Chester. The Chester middle schoolers had the chance to invest in their own city and to give back to the community in which they live. So many families benefited from the huge amount of quality clothes, shoes and coats which were donated to the Used Clothing Store. These projects could not have been successfully completed without the hard work of so many dedicated West Chester area project leaders who volunteered their time that day. Thank you!
Special Thanks:
Fulton Bank
Krapf Bus Company
Julie Miller
In Ian’s Boots
The Fern Hill STRIDE team
Peirce Middle School Families
West Chester Families
Chester City Alliance
Christ Community Church Youth Group
The Kramp Family
Chick-Fil-A
Widener Partnership Charter School
