I teach in a very socioeconomically diverse school. Our staff wanted to find a way to give back to the community while teaching students about hunger, poverty, and gratitude. As a result, for the last several years, our school has hosted an event called Day of Giving. While I did not come up with the original concept, I have been involved since the beginning. During the past two years, I have been the coordinator.
What is Day of Giving?
During the month of November, we hold a school wide canned food and overall donation drive. We convert our gym into a giant superstore where community members can come and “shop” for free. We dedicate a half-day to service learning projects and organizing the donations. It’s an incredible day for students to learn about empathy and gratitude, and it’s absolutely heart warming to see the looks on people’s faces who receive the fruits of our labor!
How does it work?
The service-learning day takes place on a Friday, which has always been a half- day for students. Students spend the day with their homeroom and have 3 blocks: academic, service, and organization.
Academic block
We want our students to understand why we dedicate an entire school day to this event. We start by teaching them about food insecurity and hunger within our own community. Then we move on to play “The Price is Right” for a little consumer education! For our complete lesson plans and outline of the day, click here .
Service block
Each grade prepares something different. Over the years we have made felt blankets and scarves, packed lunches for the homeless, made snack bags and containers for children, made care packages for nursing homes, and put together diaper kits.
Organization Block:
Students help set up the gym and organize all the donations.
It is seriously my favorite day of the year and the students really get into it. They feel really proud of themselves and are always amazed to see all their hard work pay off when the gym is finally ready. It’s truly an amazing experience for all involved!
How do you get donations?
Donations come mostly from students, but we have also received random donations from community members by advertising on social media. My principal is great about providing incentives for the kids to motivate them to bring in more items, such as contests between homerooms and raffles for homework passes or other free items. As much as we would like the kids to bring out of the goodness of their hearts, the incentives really help. Over the years we have learned to ask people to focus their donations on food, toys, toiletries, baby items, and toilet paper. We accept clothing donations as well, but clothes tend to be left over at the end of the event, so we don’t emphasize it.
Inviting the community
The event itself is typically held on a Saturday morning and open to the entire community. People in need come and “shop” in our gym, using a box we provide them. Teachers play holiday music and pass out boxes to our invited guests. No student or parents volunteers are allowed on Saturday, out of respect for the privacy of our shoppers.
Everyone receives a box they can fill. This is always the trickiest part. People definitely take more than fits in their box, but I have always found it really hard to say “no” to people in need.
