Photo courtesy of Dale Danley
As a school that is committed to our community and maintaining active involvement with our city, San Francisco Day School has been proud of our efforts, led by the Community Service for Families committee. This committee has been dedicated to finding ways for our school to give back to the city through volunteer events such as the San Francisco Food Bank and Ronald McDonald House. Many of you have participated in past events and we thank you for your time and support.
This year, the Community Service for Families committee is helping SFDS step up our participation level within the local neighborhood. We now have an added emphasis on local opportunities for community involvement, led by SFDS parent Fif Ghobadian. Moving forward, keep checking the Week Ahead and/or “Neighborhood News” in the SFDS eNews for upcoming activities in both our neighborhood and surrounding community.
We also want to take this opportunity to welcome you to join our committee and get involved in upcoming neighborhood events. Our most recent “Greening the Neighborhood” event took place on November 13, where we partnered with NOPNA (North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association) and the Panhandle Park Stewards to clean up our neighborhood and community park.
We had about thirty SFDS volunteers, including kids of all ages. The event was kicked off with an educational piece, followed by the clean-up portion, which typically entails work such as raking, shoveling or digging. At the latest event, kids and adults worked together to remove weeds, mud and trash that has collected around the neighborhood and park. To support young redwood shoots in the park, volunteers also spread nourishing compost soil to give the redwoods the nourishment they may not otherwise get from the sandy soil found throughout the park. According to those who attended, it was a plus to learn that fifth graders are big enough to maneuver a wheelbarrow across the lawn! The entire event was about 1 ½ -2 hours, and provided snacks for our hard-working volunteers as well. If you are interested in participating in future “Greening the Neighborhood” events, the Panhandle work days take place on the second Saturday of each month, so mark your calendars now! The next event will be on Saturday, January 8th.
Activities like these present a wonderful opportunity to be great role models and show our children what it means to be a good neighbor. These events are all family-driven, so we encourage you to get involved. The committee focusing on neighborhood initiatives meets once every 6-7 weeks, and we hope you will join us. For more details on upcoming meetings on local outreach or events like “Greening the Neighborhood,” please contact Fif Ghobadian at fif@sbcglobal.net or 415-345-4383.
Please check the Week Ahead for other volunteer events around the city and for additional information on the Community Service for Families committee, email Barbara Abbott at babbott@sonic.net or Wendy Miller at wjmiller2@earthlink.net.
We appreciate your support and hope to see you soon!
