Service Saturday - Assembling School Kits | Whitney Beth Photography
 

This past Saturday I was able to participate in and document our neighborhood service project. Over the past month, we, as a neighborhood, had been collecting school supplies to assemble for kids in need. Our goal was to make 500 kits. We then planned on donating a portion to our elementary school in the neighborhood, Sprucewood. The rest were going to be donated to an organization called, Lifting Hands, where they send these school kits to refugees all over the world. (After the kits were assembled, Alicia gave a quick presentation about who our kits were going to help!) It was such a great team effort, and with the help of Ute Cross fit in Draper, we were able to use their gym to host the service project. Friends from all over the neighborhood showed up eager and ready to help. In an effort to make sure everyone was able to feel involved and really participate we had the tables lined with supplies. Everyone grabbed a gallon bag and filled it full of pencils, notebooks, crayons, scissors and all the other supplies that were donated. We wanted the kids who were there to be able to participate and hopefully connect with their recipient. To do this, we set up boxes that the gym uses for people to jump onto and had 500 cards that read, "YOU ARE LOVED" that all needed a sticker or two. That was the final piece to the school kit. Once we got started, kits began to fill empty boxes. We ended up running out and had to have people run home to grab boxes from their garage. In total we managed to make 550 completed kits, with lots of excess supplies that will be donated to local title one schools in the area. It was so great to see everyone come together as neighbors and friends for such a great cause.