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| Earth Day Events |
-the 8th grade at Camp Rosenthal for their Retreat and Community Service Trip
Schools of the Sacred Heart commit themselves to educate to a social awareness which impels to action. -From the Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart Schools
General Information
The mission of the Service Learning Program is to benefit Sacred Heart Schools students as well as the community at large. While academics, social growth, and cultural pursuits contribute to a student's development, service learning helps create a well-rounded person by enhancing personal growth. Serving others leads to a fuller awareness of one's surroundings and of fellow members of the community. As students connect their own lives with others', they will be able to consider the world with a broader perspective. This is an integral part of being a responsible citizen.
Many of us at Sacred Heart are fortunate enough to have resources available to us, and by sharing those resources with others, we can make our community a better place. We hope that at least some members of our surrounding community can call on us and rely on us when looking for assistance in a variety of ways.
Our school is located in an area wealthy with people of various heritages and cultures who speak many languages and are a part of various socioeconomic groups. We are blessed to spend our days in this neighborhood. Here we can learn to serve and we can serve to learn. It is this exchange that energizes us. There is no limit to what we can learn and whom we can serve.
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News
Opportunities:
EARTH DAY
Top 10 Things Sacred Heart Kids (and adults) Can do to
Help our Environment
Turn off electrical appliances when not using them.
Drink water from re-usable plastic or metal bottles.
Slow down, look around and pick up garbage at school and at home.
If paper doesn’t have crayon or food on it, recycle it in the blue bin.
Use recycling bins in the cafeteria.
Use less paper towel in the bathroom. Only use what you need.
Walk, ride your bike, car pool or take public transportation to school.
Plant native species in your garden.
Turn off water faucet when brushing teeth or soaping.
Use fluorescent light bulbs.
Plant a tree.
Thanks for your efforts!
Sacred Heart Schools Middle School Environmental Group
Earth Day park clean-up
Join neighbors and friends at this annual celebration to help spruce up our park and beach, after the long winter months.
Date: 04/19/08
Start Time: 9:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Cost: free
Location : Loyola Park
During the month of April, the Chicago Park District joins the rest of the world to celebrate Earth Day by cleaning-up our parks and learning more about our planet and its resources. Participants get hands-on environmental education while enjoying nature walks, festivals, crafts projects, or even assisting with the care of our parks and nature areas.
FOR OTHER PARKS, PLEASE GO TO: http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/events.results
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NORTH LAKE SHORE EARTH DAY
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Children's programming as well as speaker panels and workshops will explore local and global aspects of caring for the earth.
For more info, go to www.luc.edu/earthday
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Global Activism Expo Broadway Armory
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 @ 6:00 p.m.
Kids get in free.
Five years ago, Chicago Public Radio's Worldview began a new series to showcase individuals working to improve the world through small-scale efforts, working to accomplish huge change with whatever resources they could, driven by remarkable stories of inspiration and passion for the task at hand. Taking guest suggestions from Worldview listeners, the Series has never struggled— each Thursday, Worldview host, Jerome McDonnell, introduces listeners to another initiative driving the exchange of ideas and commodities among cultures and regions.
...and now you can come meet these guests of Worldview's Global Activism Series, talk with them about their work, enjoy food and music and meet other Chicago Public Radio listeners and members from around the region. Nearly 80 organizations have been invited to set up information tables and talk with you about their work. See webpage for more info.
http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Event_Detail.aspx?eventID=608
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MORE OPPORTUNITIES
Hunger Walk for the Greater Chicago Food Depository
Walk with the Inspiration Corporation Team
All of the donations we gather go directly to Inspiration Corporation’s food expenses for the coming year, and because Inspiration Corporation has been using the depository more, this event is increasingly important to our friends at IC.
The walk is Saturday, June 14 at Montrose Harbor.
If you are interested in walking, please contact Natalie Pillsbury at npillsbury@inspirationcorp.org
“Baristas for a Cure” Help support our neighborhood Cafe Baristas.
Contact info:
http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk2008/Chicago?team_id=51000&pg=team&fr_id=1450&s_tafId=261529
YOU CAN ALSO STOP BY METROPOLIS TO MAKE A DONATION.
Dear Friends,
As a valued patron of Metropolis, a friend, and an important member of our Chicago community, we want to say thank you for being you!
We’d also like to ask for your help.
Five Baristas at Metropolis Coffee Company have recently taken on the challenge of participating in a very special and powerful event in the fight against breast cancer. The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer is a weekend-long event which takes place on May 31st and June 1st in Chicago. The goal of the event is to raise funds and awareness for a disease that still claims over 40,000 lives in the U.S. each year.
We will be training for the next two months to prepare for a 39.9 mile walk, and have committed to raising a team total of at least $15,000! By making a tax-deductible donation, you can help us achieve our mission of advancing access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer!
For donations of $250 or more, your name or business name will be proudly displayed on a team member’s t-shirt. For donations of $500 or more, in addition to the t-shirt display, you will also receive a complimentary $50 Metropolis gift card!
In addition to monetary gifts, we are seeking items for a raffle that we will have in conjunction with a fundraiser that will be held at Metropolis in the early weeks of May. It is a great way to advertise your goods and services as well as help us reach our fundraising goal of $15,000! You can donate today online at avonwalk.org, or speak to a friendly Barista here at Metropolis.
Let’s take this first step together, donate to “Baristas for a Cure” and be a part of something bigger!
Sincerely,
“Baristas for a Cure”
Tinuade Oyelowo, Sienna Harris, Seth Alexander, Laura Vargas,
Minita Gandhi
Two staff members from Misericordia join us in the cafeteria
Two residents from the Misericordia work opportunities program have now joined Sacred Heart Schools, working in the cafeteria. Miss June and Miss Deb are lunch monitors for all four lunch periods in the cafeteria and recess monitors in the middle school. We are delighted to welcome them into our community. a Our students, faculty and staff have welcomed them in a typical warm Sacred Heart manner. June and Deb are thrilled to be working here.
Students in our 7th and 8th grade community service program have served at Misericordia* since 2004, working alongside residents in the bakery and packaging room on Tuesdays. At the end of December, 2006, our students were invited to serve in more varied ways at Misericordia, working in art rooms, production, the greenhouse and the laundry facility alongside Misericordia residents. We are proud of our students and grateful to Misericordia for this opportunity.
One of the goals of our service program is to link in a reciprocal manner with the people we serve. We serve to learn as we learn to serve. We serve people and are nourished ourselves. There have been many wonderful connections made through the community service sites and Sacred Heart these last several years.
*The Mission of Misericordia/Heart of Mercy is to support individuals with developmental disabilities in maximizing their level of independence and self-determination within an environment that fosters spirituality, dignity, respect and enhancement of quality of life. We promote development of natural family and community support, community awareness, education and advocacy. Today, Misericordia is proud to support 550 children and adults with mild to profound developmental disabilities from all racial, religious and socio-economic backgrounds. Misericordia has a wide range of programs on our campus and in the community at-large to meet the diverse needs of persons with developmental disabilities.
From Misericordia Website www.misericordia.org
Primary School Service Learning
Primary School students learn about the variety of people living in their world, here at school, in their neighborhood, in the city of Chicago and in the United States. They also learn about people around the globe. Primary School students begin to learn how to be respectful of their own environment and of their peers and teachers. They are taught the importance of helping others. Social Justice issues are explained to the students at their level of understanding. They are asked to help in a variety of ways to better the lives of people here in Chicago and around the world. Following are a few examples of their actions:
Kindergarten
- Participate in Howard Area Christmas Basket Gift Project
- Collect food for area pantries (Ignatian Services and Care for Real)
- Make soup for soup kitchen
- Make decorations for International Night
1st Grade
- Read a Dr. Seuss book, Sox in Fox and collect socks to donate to the Lincoln Park
- Homeless Shelter
- Read 100 books and, through Scholastic Books, 100 books are donated to different organizations in need of children's books
- Collect Pennies for the Planet and send them to the World Wildlife organization
- Make posters and put them up around the school promoting Earth Day
- Make sandwiches for people who are homeless or underserved
2nd Graders
- Work in child care rooms at Children of the Heart, learning about children and adults from other cultures
- Help collect materials for the Children of the Heart Program
- Help collect Books for the Book Drive=
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Lower School Service Learning
Lower School students continue to learn about the diversity of people living in their world, here at school, in their neighborhood, in the city of Chicago and in the United States. They also learn about people around the globe. Lower School students are respectful of their own environment and of their peers and teachers. They are taught the importance of helping others and are asked to do so in a variety of ways. Social Justice issues are explained to the students. At times speakers come in to address issues of homelessness, poverty or oppression. Students are asked to better the lives of people everywhere. Following are a few examples of their actions:
3rd Grade
- Make sack lunches for a city shelter for people who are homeless
- Market and shoe drive for Share Your Soles program, which refurbishes shoes and sends them to places around the world
4th Grade- Learn about children who are sick and hospitalized at St. Jude's Children's
- Participate in Math-a-thon for St. Jude's to raise money for research
5th Grade
- Participate in Make A Wish Foundation projects such as blanket making
- Hear form a Make A Wish representative and then plan and carry through projects to Promote awareness of this Foundation and raise money to help children who have serious illness
- Participate in school drives to collect toiletries for people who are homeless
- Collect food and clothing to be distributed in our neighborhood to those in need
- Clean up in parks and beaches near school
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December 2006 Howard Area Community Center Christmas Basket
Gift Wrapping and Card Making
Middle School Service Learning
6th Grade
- Participate in school drives to collect toiletries for people who are homeless
- Collect food and clothing to be distributed in our neighborhood to those in need
- Are given the opportunity to participate in an after school Youth Learning and Leadership program at Centro Romero.
Centro Romero serves over 3,000 of the neediest people, adults and children alike in Chicago's Northeast Side. “Through education, Centro Romero emphasizes the development of the whole family unit, the creation of community leadership and self-reliance.” 1 from Centro Romero's Mission Statement Students tutor 7,8 and 9 year old children, helping the children do their homework and assisting them with reading and spelling, while learning about literacy.
7th & 8th Grade
One of four groups of 7th and 8th grade students goes off-campus to perform service on Tuesday mornings. Our Service Learning Partners are the following:
Inspiration Café ~ 4554 N. Broadway
Located in Uptown on Chicago's north side, Inspiration Cafe is a not-for-profit organization that provides restaurant-style meals, housing, job-training, case management and other services to homeless men and women in a therapeutic community of dignity and respect. Inspiration Cafe was founded in 1989 by Lisa Nigro, a Chicago police officer who began searching for a personal response to the homelessness she encountered in Uptown. Inspiration Cafe uses a very specific definition of homelessness: an individual who lacks adequate and sustainable housing. Inspiration Cafe guests are referred from other social service agencies. To become a guest of the Cafe, an individual must demonstrate a desire to find housing and a stable source of income. The case manager assists each guest in developing a plan to achieve these goals. Sacred Heart students give both direct and indirect service at the Café as they learn about he issues of homelessness.
The school has programs, which enable each member of the school community to be engaged in effective action for social change. -from the Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart Schools
Uptown Head Start ~ 1020 W. Bryn Mawr
Hull House Association Head Start is a preschool program that provides developmentally appropriate educational activities for three to five year olds and a chance for parents to become involved in their child's education. Head Start is funded by federal dollars through the Department of Health and Human Services and through other grants. It is free of cost to eligible families. Ninety percent of Head Start children are from families who fall below the poverty level. (A family of four has an income of $19,350.) Through Head Start, day care, foster care, summer camps, after school programs, recreation, tutoring and the arts, children learn life-long lessons of self-respect, sharing, teamwork and education. Sacred Heart students assist in the classrooms and gym with Head Start children and they read books on tape for the library.
"When I first got to Uptown Head Start, I felt really calm because all
of the adults were so welcoming. I was really excited to work with
little kids. The first time I saw the building and the classrooms, I
was surprised because they weren't as I was used to. When I found out that Uptown Head Start was a preschool for kids under the poverty level, everything started to make sense. Working and playing with these children make me feel like I'm helping and playing with my cousins, they almost feel like family. Uptown Head Start has helped me see things I would have never seen before. "
-Academy 7 student
Children of the Heart ~ 6200 N. Sheridan Road, Second Floor
Children of the Heart is a program developed and launched by Sacred Heart Schools in September of 2000. Participants are referred to the Program by various agencies such as The Women's Project at Centro Romero, Community Alternatives and Families First amongst others. It provides diverse families in Edgewater with access to early childhood education and parental development programs such as free bilingual workshops in areas of early childhood education, pediatric health and effective parenting. Parents and their children from birth to age three years interact in supervised creative activities such as arts and crafts, music and movement. Middle School students will interact with parents and children and will assist in each of the classrooms or play rooms.
Ignatian Services - 6559 North Glenwood Avenue
Ignatian Services is the Social service expression of the Faith Community of St. Ignatius Church in Rogers park. Its purpose is to provide assistance to those members of our neighborhood who are in need. Ignatian services does not discriminate. The primary ministry of Ignatian Services is the distribution of food through our food pantry. We strive to develop new programs to help the disadvantaged members of our community to lead healthy lives-- body and soul.
The People We Serve...
31% are children or teens
23% are senior citizens
On average, 549 individuals are served each month
Four tons of food are distributed each month
2,798 total households were served in 2005
6,592 individuals were served in 2005
Sacred Heart students assist in sorting the food donated to the pantry and in organizing food drives in our comunity.
"We get to sort the food and get to know each other better."
-Academy 7 student
The school is linked in a reciprocal manner to ministries with the poor and marginalized. -from the Goals and Criteria of Sacred Heart Schools
Howard Area Early Head Start ~ 7648 N. Paulina
The Howard Area Family Center houses a full-day early childhood program for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Program offerings include Head Start, Early Head Start and State Pre-Kindergarten programs. The state-of-the-art facility serves a total of 128 children birth to five. Howard Area Family Center is committed to providing young children with the highest quality care and education in order to best promote their social, emotional, language, cognitive and physical development.In this Service Project, Sacred Heart students will learn about brain development of children aged 0-3 years. They will also serve in the classrooms at Early Head Start, caring for the infants and reading to the children. They assist staff with needs for the children.
“Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happened to him.” -Aldous Huxley
"I play with children. I really enjoy when the kids sing songs. I also like when we play with the kidson teh indoor playground (gross motor room) because they are so cute to watch."
- Academy 7 student
Misericordia Home ~ 6300 N. Ridge
Misericordia, a home for adults challenged by mental and physical disabilities, is guided by the simple philosophy that persons with disabilities are entitled to a good day and a better tomorrow. While this sentiment may seem simple, its day to day implementation is much more complex. Reaching out to more people in need has always been one of Misericordia's goals. By caring for the most vulnerable members of our society, Misericordia can reach out to persons with profound disabilities and touch their lives as well as those of their families and friends who want the best for them but cannot provide it at home. Students work with residents of Misericordia in the Bakery and Packaging areas, learning first hand about people who are differently-abled.
Student Council
Student Council participates in organizing and carrying through various projects, collecting food, clothing, etc. for people in need and raising funds for various organizations. They promote issues of social justice in assemblies. Student Council students help promote the various projects that happen throughout the year by making posters.
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Parental Support
The encouragement, support and involvement of parents in the Sacred Heart community are a key component to the success of our undertakings. Active parental participation in off-site service programs for the 7th and 8th graders is a critical need. Classroom programs may require chaperones for off-site and on-site activities or in class assistance to develop and nurture a certain program. Many parents are already actively involved in social action and community activities. We may call on them to share their experiences with our students in assemblies or class meetings. The Howard Area Christmas Baskets program has been strongly reliant on parent support for tasks such as shopping, wrapping gifts, and delivering baskets to Howard Area Community Center. Traditional programs such as food, clothing, toy and toiletry drives also rely on parent help in promoting the drives as well as delivering materials. A variety of resources will be needed for various programs and we are developing a "Wish List" to identify these needs to parents and the Sacred Heart Community.
All families struggle with demands on time and energy. We welcome all parental gifts of time and participation no matter how modest they may seem. These examples of adult service create powerful and lingering images for our students far greater than can be imagined. We look forward to all members of the parent community sharing their gifts, as best they are able.
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Community Service Partnership Links
Care for Real:
http://www17.brinkster.com/geraldfarinas/careforreal.html
Children of the Heart
http://www.shschicago.org/children/index.shtml
Howard Area Community Center:
http://www.howardarea.org/
Inspiration Cafe (Inspiration Corporation)
http://www.inspirationcorp.org
Ignatian Services
http://www.stignatiuschurch.org
Misericordia Heart of Mercy Home
http://www.misericordia.org/
Sarah's Circle:
http://www.sarahs-circle.org/statistics.asp
Uptown Head Start
http://www.hullhouse.org/uc/uptownHeadStart.asp
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Links:
Conscious Choice
Green Festivals
Tree Hugger. Go Green
Chicago Park District
Chicago Park District (2nd link)
Chicago Sun Times
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