Day of Service from Coast to Coast

 

As Groton students spread throughout the area—from right around the corner to Boston, Lowell, and Grafton, MA—alumni groups worked in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, as well as right in Groton.

 

Students tended crops, sorted furniture for the needy, mulched, pulled weeds, picked up garbage, entertained the elderly, played with sick children, planted thousands of potatoes, and, at two sites, volunteered alongside alumni. Students joined alumni to clear trails with teacher David Black ’80; they also worked side by side clearing land and building raised gardens at Boston’s Epiphany School, founded by Groton alumnus John Finley ’88.

 

Meanwhile, in Chicago, Groton alumni helped clean up the Bill Jarvis Migratory Bird Sanctuary. In New York, they helped with the AIDS Walk, which benefits the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

In San Francisco, Groton alumni cleaned beaches at Golden Gate National Park, and in Washington, DC, they gardened at a public housing community and organized linens, housewares, and toys for families needing assistance, making sure the items were in “dignity condition.”

 

“From all the sites and all the activities, the images I found most moving were those of adults—parents, alumni, trustees—who took time away from their busy schedules to rekindle the mission and heart of Groton School in their own lives,” says Director of Community Engagement Jonathan Freeman-Coppadge. “What a powerful testimony to the legacy of the school as it spills into communities all over the nation. And what examples for our students to emulate.

 

“Nothing speaks to our values like our deeds,” he added. “This year, the adults in our extended community became our best teachers.”

See photos from Groton's Community Day of Service.