Si, Se Puede students donate to Emmaus House, Haiti on MLK
day
Students enrolled in the Si, Se Puede! Learing Center at the
Villa Luna apartments spent the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in
service of others. The day culminated with the end of a food and
clothing drive for Emmaus House, a penny drive for Haiti and other
activities to benefit the local community.
”
The kids couldn’t wait for this day,
”
said Charles Miller, the resident service coordinator.
Si, Se Puede students donate to Emmaus House, Haiti on MLK day
Students enrolled in the Si, Se Puede! Learing Center at the Villa Luna apartments spent the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in service of others. The day culminated with the end of a food and clothing drive for Emmaus House, a penny drive for Haiti and other activities to benefit the local community.
“The kids couldn’t wait for this day,” said Charles Miller, the resident service coordinator.
The staff and students coordinated the food and clothing drive for the second year in a row, with a goal of collecting 500 items ranging from clothing to cleaning supplies to diapers. Donations came in from students in the programs, residents of the apartment complex and others in the community. The students charted their progress with a poster on the wall of the Learning Center and exceeded their goal by collecting 800 pieces.
“I was really impressed by the amount of resident support,” Miller said. “We did the drive to continue that relationship and support.”
The Calaveras CASA program, run by the Hollister Youth Alliance, conducted a penny war to raise money for Emmaus House. Coordinator Michelle Gonzalez came to the Si, Se Puede Learning Center to present a check for $150 on Monday.
Miller said he heard the kids talking throughout the week about the items their families had donated for the drive and they had “pride that they helped with that.”
In addition to the drive, the students decided last Friday to initiate a penny drive for Haiti.
“Almost every kid brought in a big bag of pennies,” he said.
The students were divided up by table to count up their pennies, and then they added all the numbers together to find out their total donation. They ended up with more than $34 “in just one day, on the spot,” Miller said.
Activities were planned from noon to 6 p.m., and started off with a video of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.
When the students finished their afternoon snack, they divided into four groups so they could spend 20 minutes at each of four activity stations.
“We wanted to bring organizations and people to gether,” he said of the effort to collaborate with other groups.
The kids brainstormed other people in the community they could help and came up with senior citizens. At one of the activity stations, the students created greeting cards out of construction paper to give to Jovenes de Antano senior center. At another, the students decorated sugar cookies with homemade frosting and sprinkles.
Vanessa Parr, a resident activity leader, guided the kids through the cookie decorating.
“Today we are not cooking for ourselves,” she said. “We are making cookies for the ladies and children at Emmaus House.”
The first group of students at the cooking station picked out colors for the white frosting, and with the help of a volunteer, mixed up an array of red, purple, pink and blue.
“Remember when we learned about primary colors,” Parra said, as she explained the kids could mix the basic food coloring to make different colors.
The kids took their time spreading the frosting on the cookies and then using an array of sprinkles on them. Each kid decorated a cookie to donate and one to eat themselves.
At another station, the students worked on a collage for Emmaus House. Edith Villegas, a resident activity leader, started out the project by asking the students if they knew what Emmaus House does.
Evelyn Flores, 10, said it is place that people give to because it helps others.
“It’s where people can be safe when it’s not safe at home,” Villegas added.
She asked the students to share what makes them feel safe at home. Some students said their mom and dad make them feel safe. Others said family.
Each student then drew a picture of what they think makes a safe home, and then the pieces were glued onto a large cardboard poster to be given to Emmaus House.
At the last station, volunteers from the South Monterey County Center for Arts and Technology helped the students record and edit video of themselves saying parts of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Speech. The students got a quick lesson on how to use Flip video cameras and on how to put the clips together.
“We had the video station because the kids just love technology and computers,” Miller said.
At the end of the day of activities, Miller planned to show the completed video to the students.
“This is what the day is supposed to be about,” Miller said.
