Westminster Serves the Community

Westminster students and faculty visited 16 sites in Connecticut Oct. 4 to serve as community volunteers as a part of Westminster’s annual Community Service Day. They boarded vans early in the morning to travel to local and distant locations to serve children, seniors, the homeless and various community organizations. Highlights of their efforts included:

Camp Horizons, South Windham: More than 100 Fourth Formers and nine faculty members performed indoor and outdoor clean-up at the camp, which offers recreational, residential, employment, educational and support services for children and adults who are developmentally disabled or have other social and emotional needs. The Westminster volunteers raked, cleared brush, spread mulch, cleaned walls and floors, made beds, organized basements and removed wallpaper.

Eno Hall Senior Center, Simsbury: Fifteen Sixth Formers and three faculty members prepared lunch for the elderly by making coleslaw, sandwiches, baked cookies and chopped fruit salad. They also set up tables, served food, talked with guests and provided some entertainment with Corey Smith ’11 playing the guitar and singing with Chris Sailor ’11 and Hannah Ford ’11. “Overall, a great success!” reported faculty member Maureen Gassert.

YMCA Camp Chase, Burlington: About 70 Third Formers cleared brush from paths in the woods, hauled gravel up a hill to replace eroded earth from steps in the amphitheater, built fire pits, took down volleyball nets and cleared brush. They also helped make game tables.

Squadron Line Elementary School, Simsbury: A group of Sixth Formers and faculty painted the floor of the boiler room, and cleaned, weeded and raked various playground areas.

Reggio Magnet School, Avon: Fifteen Fifth Formers and two faculty members helped teachers in the nursery school and on the playground, and helped older students with some schoolwork. “We read stories to them and worked with them on their math,” said Amory Beldock ’12. “The kids were so fun to work with; it was hard not to smile.”

Community Farm of Simsbury: Twenty-three Sixth Formers and three faculty members helped prepare farmland to be plowed after the harvest and a high tunnel for growing winter crops. They also helped organize an area for educational activities and for entering volunteer hours into a database. “Not glamorous work, but these tasks allow the Community Farm personnel to function as an educational outpost of sustainable agriculture in this community,” noted faculty member Mark deKanter.

Simsbury Housing Authority: Twenty-five Sixth formers and four faculty members visited the Virginia Connelly and Owen Murphy facilities in Simsbury. Many of them raked leaves and cleaned the windows of a Community Room. Four students also toured the Virginia Connelly residents' building and provided fingernail painting for the residents. “One lady turned 100 last week and another was in her nineties,” said faculty member Edna Madden. “They chose their nail color and seemed very pleased with the results, despite our disclaimer as to our lack of expertise.” The students also helped serve lunch and clear the tables.

Grace Academy, Hartford: Twelve students and two faculty members worked on painting the school’s gym, while three students and one faculty member helped in the library, sorting books, labeling them and putting them on shelves. Grace Academy students also gave the Westminster volunteers a tour of the school. “Painting the gym was hard but seeing the appreciation and gratitude written all over the faces of the girls at Grace Academy made me feel like I made a difference,” said Marquez Cummings ’12.

Foodshare Regional Market Warehouse, Hartford: Ten students and two faculty members packaged and loaded up more than 5,000 pounds of potatoes and peppers.

Farmington River Clean-up: Using seven canoes, 12 Fifth Formers and two faculty members paddled on the Farmington in Simsbury from the Pinchot Sycamore Tree to Curtis Park in Tarrifville, about three miles of river, gathering trash and filling large trash bags.

Flamig Farm, Simsbury: Ten Fifth Formers and one faculty member raked leaves, split wood, shoveled out chicken and goat pens, sanded and painted a horse-drawn trolley, and moved hay from summer storage to winter storage.

Phelps Tavern Museum, Simsbury: Nine Sixth Formers and one faculty member helped the museum’s part-time gardener cut down some sassafras trees that had begun obscuring the back gate, cleared some Japanese knotwood that was taking over a hillside and cleared fallen branches from the two-acre site. Secondary jobs included edging a sidewalk, cleaning out two stairwells around a sidewalk and weeding a hillside at the back of the property. “The group worked very diligently and without complaint for a solid four to five hours,” said faculty member Peter Doucette. “We really transformed the property. It was an excellent group.”

Community Garden, Westminster School: A group of eight students led by faculty members Whitney Roe and Grant Gritzmacher helped finish digging the new community garden at Westminster. They also laid out lumber for raised beds.

Manchester Soup Kitchen: Fourteen Fifth Formers and three faculty members visited the Manchester Soup Kitchen, where they spent some time with a director who explained how the program works, who they serve, and how they rely on donations and volunteers. “A homeless person looks just like you and me,” she said, adding that being homeless is exhausting.

The Westminster Volunteers prepared and served food for 60 people, prepared a charitable newsletter mailing, unloaded donations of food from trucks, reorganized boxes of canned goods in a storage area, and restocked the pantry, which is a place for people to secure food for their homes.

“It was a great day,” said faculty member Amy Stevens, who helped coordinate Community Service Day. “Many of our students were pretty tired when they returned to school, but I think they all realized the contributions they had made, whether they were raking, weeding, cooking, cleaning, reading or listening. Everyone made a wonderful effort."