Open Hearts: Reaching Out Through Service Learning
by Elizabeth Jarrett, CCES Director of Service Learning

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It was a great way to introduce thrid, fourth, and fifth-graders to the opportunities to help others in meaningful ways.

During the week of July 10 - 14 I led a group of six young students who chose to spend their mornings helping others in Greenville County. They participated in a new program entitled Open Hearts: Reaching Others Through Service Learning, part of the wide array of Summer Encounters programs offered on and off-campus.

Two mornings were spent preparing bag lunches for fifty youth doing mission work in Greenville. Our students enthusiastically decorated bags, made sandwiches, wrapped desserts and then put the lunches together. We delivered the lunches to different sites in Greenville where the youth were scraping and painting houses for people unable to do it for themselves. Being able to watch the youth working to help others was yet another meaningful experience for the children.

Two mornings were also spent bringing joy to the residents at the Greenville Place Alzheimer’s Assisted Living Facility. There the children set up for bingo and gathered the residents to come play. The residents loved the children and playing bingo. Their faces brighten as the children talked and laughed with them. On the second day there, our students brought storybooks that they read out loud to the residents, who enjoyed listening to their young voices.

Our last day of volunteering was spent delivering Meals on Wheels and visiting with the residents who received them. The students made cards for the residents and delivered them with the meals. These visits nourished not only the residents' bodies but also their spirits, and both the students and the meal recipients shared many smiles together.

Each day was exciting and meaningful to our students. They all said that they would like to spend another week serving others. It was enjoyable for them and definitely made a difference in the lives of those they served.

What better way to spend part of the summer than learning about the needs of others in the community and the many ways to give of yourself to help meet these needs?

I hope to expand this program next summer to include more activities over a period of several weeks.