Organizations across the Lower Mainland – and even overseas – will receive some eager helping hands this month, as White Rock Christian Academy introduces one of its "most exciting initiatives" to senior students.
During Service Week – March 10-14 – nearly 100 Grade 10-12 students will be volunteering at more than 25 sites, including food banks, community kitchens, animal-welfare organizations, senior-care services and newcomer support programs.
Working in teams, the teens will pitch in with tasks ranging from meal prep to assisting refugee families.
Service is one of WRCA's four core programs aimed at connecting education to community, school officials explained of the initiative.
Participating organizations in and around the Semiahmoo Peninsula include Urban Safari Rescue Society, Semiahmoo House Society and Cloverdale Community Kitchen.
The senior students were also given opportunities to apply for one of two international service efforts, taking place March 8-18: in Uganda, working with a group that focuses on an area that has been greatly impacted by past conflicts, HIV, malaria and poverty; or in Mazatlan, engaging in community service projects with Youth With A Mission.
"Our service program encourages a servant heart in God's world through local and global mission projects," information at wrca.ca states.
"By engaging in these trips, we invite God to transform us on our spiritual journey, and in turn, God can use that transformation to impact both our own communities and the community that we visit," the site continues.
"The hope is that students will reflect on how the trip transformed their hearts, their faith, and their future."
The local Service Week efforts are to wrap up March 14 at White Rock Baptist Church, with "a reflection and celebration of learning."
