Day of Service

On Tuesday April 22, Alexandria Country Day School students set a high bar for future days of service at our school.  After spending eight weeks collecting 11,160 quarters for Stop Hunger Now, the students, faculty, and staff assembled 20,000 meals for the hunger relief organization.  With each meal costing just 25 cents, the student quarter collection paid for 11,160 of the 20,000 meals they packaged.  To assemble the meals, which contain rice, a soy protein, dehydrated vegetables, and a vitamin packet, the ingredients were measured into bags at funnel stations and passed along to weigh stations to ensure they contained the correct amount of food.  After being sealed, the bags were packaged into boxes to be shipped to overseas.  

Assembling 20,000 meals was big task, but ACDS students still had more to give and soon began work on a variety of projects both on campus and around Alexandria.  On campus, Kindergarten students planted a butterfly garden, while the third and six grades planted beans that will be given to the Capital Area Food Bank.  The third and sixth graders also planted herbs and created informational signs for the recycling and compost bins on campus.   

 

Students in second and fifth grade left campus to clean up to three Alexandria Playgrounds: Armory Tot Lot, Montgomery Playground, and Windmill Hill Park.  The first and fourth grade volunteered at the Buddie Ford Nature Center.   

Seventh graders, in partnership with the City of Alexandria Parks and Recreation Department, created an assessment and monitoring plot in Monticello Park, and the eighth grade cleaned up Four Mile Run.   

 

Students went home tired but happy, knowing that they had made a difference in their school and local communities as well as for hungry children around the world.