When kindergartener Jamie M. brought bread to school to give to New York City homeless, he learned the importance of helping hurting strangers.
“They are grown-ups that The Chapel School doesn’t know, but we are going to help them,” he says.
The Chapel School, the preschool through eighth grade day school affiliated with Village Lutheran Church in the affluent, suburban New York City village of Bronxville, taught the children service and leadership through homeless outreach. It partnered with the organization Midnight Run, which works with churches and other groups to coordinate late-night relief efforts and donations of food, clothing, blankets and personal care items to the homeless throughout New York City. The Village Lutheran Church, with an average weekly worship attendance of 330, and The Chapel School, with an enrollment of 362 kids, collected food, assembled meals and delivered them to the homeless across the city, forging a bond between housed and homeless people.
Children in kindergarten through eighth grade donated all the items, divided by grade level, needed to assemble the bagged meals. Eighth grade students made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and assembled more than 300 meals during their study hall leading up to the Oct. 4, 2013, run. Church and school staff then made the run at night to distribute the meals. The students knew the meals they provided may have been the only ones their recipients ate that day.
“The Chapel School is a place where we teach children that serving others is a way of life,” says Principal James Dhyne. “We have been given many gifts from God, and it is our responsibility to share those gifts with others.”
