Read to Grow
The Lower School (Beginners-Grade 5) annually organizes the community service project, "Read to Grow." During the fall IDS Book Fair, Lower School students collect new or gently-used children's books for "Read to Grow,“ a non-profit organization located in Branford, Connecticut dedicated to promoting family literacy and the joy of reading through a variety of programs. The Lower School students work in cross-graded groups to create unique collection boxes and tally and pack up the books at the end of the week. Children can consider buying a book at the book fair to donate to this worthy cause or give one of their gently-used books for each new book they purchase at the fair. The entire community participates and typically about 2,000 books are donated to this great cause.
Warm the Children
The Third grade raises money every year for Warm The Children. They save their allowances, give up ice cream money, do extra chores, and sell snacks in school. The money goes to help
needy children get nice, new winter clothing (quite often it’s the first new coat or pair of boots the child has ever owned).
Warm The Children is a program whose mission is to provide new warm winter clothing for children of needy families. The mission is accomplished with the cooperative efforts of Warm The Children, Inc., local newspapers, social service agencies, schools, volunteer shoppers, and cooperating retailers. Every eighty dollars raised buys winter outerwear. Every penny raised goes directly to buying the clothing.
Empty Bowls Feed the Hungry Project
A cross-curricular science and art project for grades three and four. Students plant vegetables in the school garden and create ceramic soup bowls on the pottery wheel for their families to use in a fund raiser dinner. Proceeds from the meal are donated to the Conecticut Food Bank each year.
Interactive Club
IDS middle school students have the opportunity
to join the Interact Club. The club works with Connecticut Rotary International
District 7980 in Middletown.
“Interact”
is derived from “inter,” for international, and “act,” for action. There are
over 10,000 Interact clubs in the world and over 40 active clubs in
Connecticut. Interact Clubs
provide youth with opportunities to perform community service projects both
locally as well as internationally within a framework of education and
meaningful opportunities.
Involvement in Interact provides a continuum of service opportunities
beginning in middle school, progressing through high school, college, and into
young adulthood and beyond, if a student chooses to stay involved.
The
club meets weekly to plan projects, such as the collection of mugs, utensils
and dishtowels for St. Vincent de Paul of Middletown. In addition, the club members run a school store with
profits being used to fund projects.
The club is currently raising funds to help eradicate polio
worldwide. Money made from the
school store and school dances will be sent to buy vaccines for infants in the
four countries where polio continues to be endemic, Afghanistan, India, Nigeria
and Pakistan.