Tabor Academy to Host Morning of Service

Tabor students are getting ready to engage in the second morning of service of the school year. Tabor Academy’s Morning of Service takes place on April 28from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. As part of a larger program of community service that has become an integral part of the school’s mission in action, these service days offer “a time for the Tabor Community to come together to work side by side for our local community,” says Kerry Saltonstall, Director of Communications.

Students will engage with over 25 organizations across the South Coast, many right here in the Town of Marion. Collaborating with representatives from the town as well as our local churches, Sippican School, Sippican Lands Trust, the Buzzards Bay Coalition and the Boy Scouts, students will help with all manner of clean up and beautification projects of parks, beaches, playgrounds and roadways. They will also head to other towns on the South Coast to lend a hand with longstanding service partners such as Gifts to Give, Community Boating, Sharing the Harvest Community Farm and many others. New partners include the Message of Hope Foundation in Pocasset, School on Wheels in Bridgewater, and Youth Opportunities Unlimited in New Bedford.

Also new this year is an opportunity for the public to come to Tabor’s Charles Hayden Library from 9:00 to 11:30 am to get their technology questions answered. Students will uncover the mysteries of Facebook, Skype, smartphone settings, and share their knowledge of digital photography and photo management online. There is free parking at the library located at 71 Spring Street.

It takes enormous organization to mobilize over 500 volunteers, and co-director of community service Lauren Boucher handles it with ease. Running the overall service program at Tabor that places students in ongoing, weekly positions with organizations all year long, Boucher says, “My co-director, Amelia Wright, and I find this service morning program acts as a springboard for further action by students into some of our established weekly programs like the Young Athletes Program with Special Olympics or serving Sunday Supper at the Salvation Army in New Bedford or maintaining local trails with the Sippican Lands Trust. As students gain more experience, many initiate projects of their own creation based on their interests. Senior Chase Compson organized her peers to provide eight large bins of toys and crafts to chronically ill children at Mass General Hospital through an organization called the Box of Fun Project. And junior Kellie Navarro is, for the second year in a row, running an afternoon marine science program for girls who attend Our Sisters’ School in New Bedford.”

“It has been so gratifying to see how our service program has grown over the years from one service morning a year to a robust afterschool program that instills ongoing interest for many of our students to engage in service throughout the year. Our students are learning so much about the needs of our community and they are applying their time and effort to make a difference,” said Kerry Saltonstall, Director of Communications.

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