Calais Middle/High School
Calais, Maine

The Civil Rights Team will promote the Safe-Haven project (sponsored by the Weed and Seed initiative) which provides safe and alcohol/drug free after-school activities. Many teens will only attend an event if it's perceived to be "cool." The Safe Haven is only a month old and hasn't been able to dispel the perception that it's only "video games and ping-pong at the rec center." The Civil Rights Team proposes to create a series of high-profile events, beginning with a monthly or bi-weekly youth dance club, helping the Safe-Haven become a more exciting place where youth want to be.

Cincinnati Christian High School
Cincinnati, Ohio

Four-hundred forty students, during the week of November 13th, 
each brought in two canned goods for our 10th grade Honors 
English class to collect, box, and distribute through a local 
food bank (City Gospel Mission), in an outreach we titled CHEC 
(Christian High School Enterprise for the Community). 
Our expectations about the student body were completely under 
estimated when they came together as if they were supporting 
our school's sports teams rather than our English class. Our 
empty box and scarce-can expectations were completely abolished 
by overflowing boxes and towers of cans. Our school rose to the 
occasion, coming together for an event beyond benefiting 
ourselves, but impacting the community around us in a way we 
could not have foreseen.

Delaware Valley High School
Milford, Pennsylvania

The 11th grade Combo Class at Delaware Valley High School initiated a school-wide toy drive to help bring the holidays home to disadvantaged children in Pike County , Pennsylvania . In addition, the class baked and delivered a variety of holiday cookies for the elderly population in our area. Both initiatives were focused around "giving" to the less fortunate during the holiday season.

Frankfort High School
Frankfort, Kentucky

Plan a parade to a specific place (to be determined) to showcase speakers from diverse groups:  African Americans, Mexicans, Far easterners, gays, older people, handicapped, etc.  The purpose of the rally will be to celebrate the diversity in our community.  Additionally, we are going to solicit funding to have a sweatshirt with a significant phrase printed on it for all sophomores.  We also plan to visit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, which has a current exhibit entitled “Invisible,” which addresses invisible slavery that still exists.

Highlands High School
North Highlands, California

Our project will focus on supplying our local food bank (we have one across the street from our school that is run by a local church) with as many donations as possible between January and February. We have decided to focus on January and February because as the following quote shows, once the holidays are past, many people forget about our local hungry and the food banks still need donations. "Part of the struggle is that people gave in November or December so they think, 'I am done for the year,'" Mercer said. "When we get to summer, we need more food and more dollars to feed kids."

n addition, we will specifically ask for items that are nutritionally sound because another problem that many food banks suffer is that many of the donations are not “good” for sustaining health – such as Donuts, Sugar Cereals, and candy. Although these “junk” foods may be better than nothing and will help a person feel less hungry in the short term, the long term health effects can actually make the problem worse. After all, how can a person who can’t afford to feed themselves afford to get insulin injections for diabetes, or medicines for high cholesterol? We hope to continue our food collection initiative into the Spring as well to address the food shortage of summer

Howell Memorial Middle School
Howell, New Jersey

After meeting Gerda Weissman Klein we were inspired to participate in the service learning project. Our Language Arts and Social Studies Class were excited since this is the first time a class has created a school project that would have a lasting impact.

As a class we brainstormed a list of ideas and came up with the Make a Difference campaign. Students would create a Wall of handprints that would recognize all the people who are committed to “Making a Difference.” The wall is located in our school cafeteria where all can see. The class will conducted a school wide assembly in January to teach the students about community service and ask the students and faculty to become a part of the campaign. The money raised from the wall will be used for gift cards to local grocery stores. The cards will be given to the local food pantry in Farmingdale. As a class we hope that Gerda’s message, “Community Service is a Gift and not a punishment” will be embraced and will continue to grow each year here at Memorial Middle School, in Howell.

Lakeview High School
Battle Creek, Michigan

What we are doing here at Lakeview High School is three different projects. First, we spent a day creating Christmas Cards for veterans and will be delivering them to a VA Hospital in our town where we will spend some time with the Veterans there.

Second, we are working with our local Habitat for Humanity and a group called the Haven of Rest to help redevelop some housing for individuals who have been homeless and who have gone through a program to get back on their feet. The housing we are working on will be permanent housing for them.

Finally, we are putting together 30 packets of school supplies for Iraqi children...

Lyman Hall High School
Walingford, Connecticut

The students involved in this service project have chosen to reach out to two of the minority groups at Lyman Hall High School : English as a Second Language students and Intellectually Disabled students. Service project students will spend 1-3 hours per week working individually and in groups with students from the minority groups. The purpose of this activity is for students to build an appreciation for the struggles faced by minority students, to make a connection to those students, and to eventually bring their knowledge to the larger school community. By reaching out and lending a hand, these students will bridge the divide between tolerance and acceptance

Methacton High School
Norristown, Pennsylvania

Our school will be creating an entire program of dance, drama, and poetry to celebrate the human spirit and raise awareness about human rights. The group who will be performing will be the Women's Performance Group. This student group, both girls and boys, perform community and service learning projects. This year we will use the idea of Stand Up. Speak Out. Lend a Hand! as our theme for Women's History Month too. The group intends to choreograph a dance to "Shed a Light," "Wade in the Water." They will also perform choral pieces about human rights violations. A final piece will use dance to demonstrate how America is made up of many different cultures, values, attitudes and beliefs that can sometimes cause problems. The dance will show how we can overcome adversity through celebrating our diversity and come together as one country.

Riverside Jr./Sr. High School
Taylor, Pennsylvania

On Wednesday, January 3^rd, the Gifted Education students and some of the Language Arts students from Riverside Junior/Senior High School will be volunteering their time for the United Neighborhood Centers in Scranton, PA.  They will be spending time at Angel’s Attic and Progressive Day Care. 

Angel’s Attic is a year round program that provides clothing and household items for people of all ages.  Volunteers will be sorting donations, folding clothes, stocking shelves and general straightening of clothing area so as to make it more presentable to the community.

Progressive Day Care is before and after school care for toddlers through school-aged children.  This program cares for the child’s social, emotional, physical and intellectual needs.  Volunteers will assist children with homework, serve snack and supervise activities in the gym or outside.

Salisbury High School
Allentown, Pennsylvania

The tenth grade Period 4 English class at Salisbury High School is piloting a technology-infused curriculum in a computer lab environment. For their project, the class chose to investigate teenage issues through a wiki. Students integrate multimedia research on six different issues that confront young adults. In addition to creating an online community outreach resource, students also in-service the district’s younger students via video skyping and SMS Live, the middle school’s daily closed-circuit morning news program.

Spring-Ford Area High School
Royersford, Pennsylvania

Spring-Ford Senior High School’s Cultural Awareness Club is pleased to announce a partnership with Royersford Elementary. The Cultural Awareness Club’s mission is to promote racial and cultural tolerance and celebrate cultural diversity. As our service project, the club is initiating a program to share its passion with local elementary students.  Coined The Culture Connection, the teens will meet once a month for an afternoon of games, crafts, and other activities designed to teach their young charges about other cultures.  Targeted elementary students are those who might not otherwise receive this type of positive information about other cultures. 

St. Charles School
Lima, Ohio

My Eighth Grade students at St.Charles School in Lima , Ohio have been involved in a Service Project providing a monthly donation of food or personal hygiene products to Christian Corners, our local soup kitchen. This soup kitchen is owned and operated by our parish. The title for our project emphasizes stewardship: IN STEP WITH CHRIST - A YEAR OF SERVICE TO OUR COMMUNITY - TO OUR SCHOOL and PARISH - STEWARDSHIP. This service project provides my Junior High students with an opportunity to donate monthly to the hungry and needy people in our Lima Community.

University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
Eau Claire, Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students will be standing up and speaking out against hunger. We have already volunteered for a day of food distribution at St. Francis Food Pantry. We also plan to get as complete a picture as possible on food security in this area including volunteering for the local food bank, a shelter for homeless families, shelters for homeless men and women, and The Community Table, which serves a meal daily to anyone who comes to the table. After this we plan to do at least one action project that will be designed to increase the food security for persons in this area.

West Union High School
West Union, Ohio

We conducted a school wide canned food drive for our service learning project. We were able to collect nearly 200 canned goods and $185 to go towards purchasing more canned goods. These canned goods and money were donated to a local church that makes up holiday baskets for local shut-ins. The left over cans were used to help supply the church's food pantry so that they can run a food pantry for low income families in the community.

Youth Leadership Academy
South Kortright, New York

The students at the Youth Leadership Academy , in South Kortright , New York will be participating in a monthly service learning project in their New York City home environment as part of their continued attendance in our follow up program, City Challenge, in Brooklyn , NY .