Season of Giving

The November and December holidays always inspire an outpouring of community service at Baldwin.  Once again the Upper School Service League organized a food drive for 31 Thanksgiving food baskets for Project Home, a nonprofit organization that provides housing and services to chronically homeless men and women in Philadelphia.

In December, Baldwin Lower School really rose to the occasion to personify the season of giving. Lower School holiday projects included a blanket sleeper drive and a new book drive for Family Support Services, holiday decorations for Bryn Mawr Hospital, a non-perishable food drive for ElderNet of Lower Merion and the Food Cupboard in Narberth, and the collection of gloves and mittens for the Folsom Community Center.

Supporting Our Troops

Lower School students also wrote letters and cards to patients at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American military hospital outside the United States. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center is located in the Rheinland-Pfalz state of Germany not far from the Ramstein Air Base and serves as the nearest treatment center for wounded soldiers coming Iraq and Afghanistan. A large proportion of serious casualties from the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters are treated here, flown in via Ramstein Air Base. It also serves military personnel stationed in Germany as well as their family members. In addition to the letters and cards, the Baldwin students also donated T-shirts, duffle bags, knit caps, winter jackets and phone cards.

The largest holiday project, however, benefited the Children's Choice Early Intervention Program run by the Consortium of Philadelphia. Organized by a former Baldwin staff member, Hattie Holmes of Bryn Mawr, the entire school community pooled their efforts to buy and wrap new gifts of toys and clothing for over 50 children served by the Consortium. Each child received a "Santa Sack" of age-appropriate, individually selected presents that were distributed at a Consortium-sponsored holiday party. The Secret Santa Consortium project is one of the most popular service projects at Baldwin because it crosses all three divisions – Lower, Middle and Upper – and engages all members of the school community.

Parents Too

While teachers and students were busy with their holiday service projects, Baldwin parents would not be outdone Baldwin’s Parents’ Association organized a day of volunteering for parents at Cradles to Crayons, an organization based in Horsham that provides low-income and homeless children from birth to pre-teen with the basic essentials they need to be safe, warm, and ready to learn. These items include school supplies, clothing, shoes, new toys, and baby supplies.

After the holidays are over, students and faculty do not plan to slow down Baldwin's community service efforts. Plans are underway for a literacy service project in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January.