Contact: Jenni Brockman
Telephone: 804-443-3357
Fax: 804-443-6781
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SMS Students Seek Service Opportunities
Tappahannock (September 17, 2001) - Last year, community organizations benefited from more than 1800 hours of volunteer service by girls at St. Margaret's School - and this fall, students are looking for even more ways to help their neighbors.
"We live, work, and go to school here," said Community Service Coordinator Mollie Conklin, "so we're always seeking opportunities to give back to the local community."
Photo left: - Senior Brittany Walker of Callao, a member of the St. Margaret's School local service organization, was one of the organizers of a school supplies drive to benefit the Child Development Center of Warsaw. In addition to encouraging classmates to donate items, Walker also gathered donations from the members of her church, Coan Baptist Church in Heathsville.
Since school opened two weeks ago, SMS students have collected boxes of notebooks, pens and other supplies that will be distributed to needy pupils throughout the area by the Child Development Center of Warsaw. The school supplies drive was coordinated by Basic Needs, a student organization dedicated to serving others in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula.
In response to last week's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, students and faculty also are making plans to support the upcoming blood drive at Christchurch, St. Margaret's brother school in Urbanna. Other patriotic service activities are likely to be scheduled as events unfold, said Basic Needs sponsor ViAnn Farmer.
Conklin encourages non-profit community organizations that could benefit from SMS volunteers to call her at (804) 443-3357. Students are most available outside of school hours and on the weekend. The school provides transportation and adult chaperones. Organizations served by the school in the past include Belle Isle State Park, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Clean Virginia Waterways, Habitat for Humanity of Richmond and Westmoreland Counties, Riverside Tappahannock Hospital, the Salvation Army, St. Timothy's Catholic Church, St. John's Episcopal Church, Tappahannock Elementary School and the Warsaw Health Care Center.
Each student must spend at least 12 hours each year in approved service activities, but more than one-third of all SMS students routinely exceed the minimum service requirement.
