"Make Your Mark Week" Mobilizes Youth and Families

Make Your Mark Week, an effort to mobilize youth to use their energy, ingenuity, and compassion to "make their mark on the world," engaged more than 560 youth and family volunteers from October 16-22, 2011. Sponsored by generationOn and their founding partner, Hasbro Children's Fund, the week-long event provided hands-on service opportunities through 7 of Serve Rhode Island's partner organizations: 

Boys and Girls Club of Cumberland-Lincoln – 77 volunteers participated in a warm winter clothing drive for the Pawtucket Soup Kitchen, collecting 6 large garbage bags of coats, sweaters, and shoes. Volunteers decorated over 100 cookies and made 50 cards for the homeless. “I want to let the homeless know that they are not alone,” Nicole reported.

City Year - More than 130 students planted shrubs and bushes around the Del Sesto Middle School grounds and potted their own plants to bring home. “I think garden club is a change in our community,” said Luis, a 6th grader. Yudiglenn, an 8th grader, liked that “we are helping the environment and having fun at the same time.”

Inspiring Minds – Over 40 parents and children from Sackett Street School participated in a Family Literacy Day event. Parents were presented with information on strategic methods to help children succeed in reading and then helped their child pick out a book to bring home. Mrs. Gallant, Reading Specialist, is still reaping the benefits. “Students were extremely excited about the books and materials they received and have asked if we are going to do it again.”

Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale - Teen Jonnycake held a recruitment drive for new members with a food drive for the emergency food pantry. Recruitment efforts included media outreach to newspapers, 36 local congregations, the superintendent of schools, the guidance department chairs at the two local high schools, and the National Honor Society.

Mt. St. Rita Health Centre/Blessings in a Backpack Program – Over 100 youth, including students from Mercymount in Cumberland and Highlander School in Cranston, working with community volunteers including residents at Mt. St. Rita Health Centre, worked to provide 250 4th and 5th grade students in Woonsocket with backpacks filled with food for the weekend. One student reported that it “feels really good to do something for someone else.”

Providence CityArts for Youth – 94 volunteers created 110 ceramic bowls for the Empty Bowls Project, an early January fundraiser for Amos House, which will raise $2,000 to provide 1,000 meals for hungry men, women, and children in RI. Chantel, age 10, summed up her feelings in a poem: “If you have a chance to do a good deed, do it, because it will come back to you. And everyone has chances.”

RI Campus Compact – 51 youth and family volunteers from Providence College and St. Patrick’s Academy in Providence sponsored Marking Out Domestic Violence. They collected cell phones and personal care items for Sojourner House. The week culminated in a multi-generational domestic violence workshop with youth-led discussions on what love is. A staff member at Sojourner House feels this peer-led education is critical. “Having workshops such as this one held at St. Patrick’s brings awareness to types of abusive behaviors [and] is important for all teenagers.”

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