Student share value of annual day of service

Students volunteered at the Discovery Center, Fink White Park, CrossCity Christian Church, Fresno Metro Ministry, Medical Ministries International, Playland and Storyland as well as in the FC gym with Reading Heart.

A great experience
Rachel Moate, ‘23
February 27, 2020

“Serving local organizations can help a student see how many people need help, and helping people can give really good experiences to that person and open their eyes to other people and serve them. My favorite part of Medical Ministries today was sorting the boxes with Emma. We did it wrong the first time but eventually figured it out. We had a lot of fun trying to fit the boxes into the bin like a big puzzle.”

Importance of words and wisdom
Amanda Chau, ‘21
February 27, 2020

“By supporting our community, students could get a sense of sharing, contributing and teamwork. Serve day means more than just volunteering, it is also a chance for us to experience life and to make changes to the local community. My favorite part of serve day was when we finished sorting and packing more than 100 boxes of books for Reading Hearts. To me, books play an important part in broadening one’s mind and knowledge. Through our service, we have emphasized that words and wisdom are more powerful than anything.”

“I like Serve Day. We have a chance to get off from school work and hang out there to serve others. And the better part about book sorting is that we did it at school so we did not get on a bus and it feels much more comfortable to do it at our own place.”

Powerfulness of love
Yinxiong (Auston), ’20
February 27, 2020

“I think serve day is very meaningful. I hope to have more similar events. I learned the benefits of teamwork in the book classification. I think teamwork is an indispensable factor for achieving goals. I have also been a volunteer before, and I am very happy to participate in similar activities, because I know that as long as everyone gives a little love to this world, we can have a better tomorrow.”

Serving as a community
Ethan Castiglione, ‘21
February 27, 2020

“I think it’s important to serve our community, because it makes our city look nicer for others. I think it’s important to serve together because if there’s more of us we can get a lot more done and we can all build a bond. My favorite part about serve day was just making the park look nicer, because it really helps our community a lot.”

Observing service achievements
Lexi Baker, ‘21
February 27, 2020

“I went to Storyland and helped spread mulch on the flower garden plot. I think it’s important to serve the community because it’s where we live and our impact on it matters for us and for others. My favorite part was probably finishing up and seeing what we had finished and got done.”

Accomplishments for the community
Esfandiar Behbehani, ‘20
February 27, 2020

“I chose to serve graffiti cause I did it last year and it was really fun. I had a great experience because I got to serve and spend the day with my favorite person. My favorite moment serving was looking back and seeing all that we accomplished for the community. I think it’s good to serve the community because it’s not something I get to do everyday so it feels really good to give back.”

Displays of unity
Thy Pham, ‘20
February 28, 2020

“I found it was pretty fun and meaningful because we could do something good together with everyone, especially our friends and help the community. I was really happy that everyone was actually trying to help and seemed pretty happy. Moreover, it shows the unity of our school students.”

“My favorite part of serve day was organizing boxes with my friend Rachel Moate even when we messed up and had to restart three times. What I’ve learned from my experience is that there are people in need and I have the ability to help them, which I’m going to try to do to the fullest.”

Sharing the light of Jesus
Ellie Scully, ’21
February 28, 2020

“I think that serve day is an amazing experience to be able to go out and serve our community whether that is leaving campus or even staying on campus and helping our staff. I love being able to help others and shine the light of Jesus to those around us. Helping at Medical Ministry International gave us an amazing opportunity to help people all around the world by sorting and cleaning medical supplies.”

Helpful experiences
Edward Fikse, ‘22
February 28, 2020

“I think it is a good experience and it helps the community. It is a really cool thing that the school does and I like being able to participate with my friends. I’m enjoying this serve day in particular because we are doing a lot of shovel work and I enjoy the manual labor.”

Showing respect
Kayden Marquez, ‘20
February 28, 2020

“Serve day is always a great way of showing respect to your community. Serve day is an opportunity to serve the city you love and help others out that might need it. Serve day was a fun experience this year, I got the chance to visit Playland/Storyland where we worked on landscaping in the park. It was awesome to see the before and after of the project from the time we got there to when we left. Not only did we help out with the landscaping of Storyland, but they allowed us to take a look around the park and enjoy it for ourselves.”

The following tweet features some additional pictures of the 2020 serve day, Feb. 27.

Watch for a #FCserves2020 recap by @LizKMPH and the @KMPHFOX26 newscast at 10:58 p.m. tonight, Feb. 27. Thank you to @FresnoChristian students, parents & administration who fanned out across #FresnoCounty, volunteering today. #thefeather #OurNeighborhood @CityofFresno #SJW2020 pic.twitter.com/uozDkZ3638

— The Feather Online (@thefeather) February 28, 2020

Opportunity to help others
Deborah Ingerson, ‘20
February 28, 2020

“Serve day was really good. It helped me have the opportunity to help others and give to our community. I’m so happy that our school does serve day every year. It’s so kind to give back to our community and share the light of Jesus to others.”

A fresh start
Derek Degroot, ‘22
February 28, 2020

“We helped out somebody clean their park, they have intentions to start a park. We then helped them with gardening and weed eating and just things to help them out. I hope that in a year if we go back next year it will be a little bit more developed and that they will be able to build what they are hoping to build.”

Serving the community
Joshua Chinn, ‘23
March 2, 2020

“I got to do graffiti cleanup which was a fun experience and I loved helping the community and we had to interact with other students you usually don’t interact with to do the work. We painted over almost half a mile of wall which sounds like a lot but we finished really fast. It was amazing to see people work at it with a passion and not mess around; the students all worked really hard. Serve day is important to me because I love to serve my community and to just help around my hometown.”

Connect as a school
Aubri Foster, Christian living teacher
March 2, 2020

“This serve day, I had the opportunity to serve with 17 amazing students at CrossCity Church. We love partnering with our neighborhood churches to clean, organize and help out wherever we can. My favorite part is watching our students work together to accomplish a task. They seem to finish faster and complete more work than our sites can keep up with.  It is a neat way to connect Acts 1:8, be God’s witnesses in our Jerusalem and Judea, and maybe even give students an opportunity to catch the missions bug.”

The following video features students serving during serve day 2020, Feb. 27.

Serve Day 2020 from The Feather Online on Vimeo.

For last year’s article about serve day, read Annual Serve Day unites community through service.

For more articles, read COLUMN: Student shares struggle of losing family pet or Mason Blowers exhibits talent in multiple sports, campus groups.

Shane Philips can be reached via email.

The following slideshow features some additional images from the 2020 serve day, Feb. 27.

Gallery • 17 Photos