Community Service

One of our primary missions as a member of the Network of Sacred Heart Schools is to instill in our students a sincere commitment to serving the less fortunate in our own community and throughout the world. Our goal is to make service a “habit of the heart” by creating opportunities that place girls and young women in relationships with the poor, the marginalized and the disadvantaged.

Social justice issues are studied at every grade level as part of the curriculum, and students are given opportunities to reach out directly to the poor. Keeping an eye turned toward the world beyond and sharing with those less fortunate are important aspects of the Lower and Middle School community service programs. In the Upper School, the program delves deeper into an awareness of the sick, the aged and the racially and economically oppressed, and stresses the commitment to help through personal service.

Lower School Community Service

Service begins at an early age. Jump Rope for Uganda, for example, a Lower School project, has helped support our sister Sacred Heart School in Uganda. With pledges from families and friends, our kindergarten through grade four girls have raised more than $20,000 towards the construction of the new primary school.

Middle School Community Service

In the Middle School, service is organized around both grade-level themes and school-wide projects. All students have the chance to participate in monthly activities, including fundraising walks, supply drives, holiday food and gift projects, Rebuilding Together and Food From the Heart. Each grade in the Middle School also has a special area of focus for service, which is done by advisory. Students in the fifth grade, for example, work within their community, volunteering in our prekindergarten. Sixth grade students work with the elderly, visiting a local nursing home to socialize during morning coffee and refreshments. Students in seventh grade visit Blythedale Children’s Hospital to do arts and crafts with preschool children. The eighth grade takes turns working in small groups at the Grace Church Community Center Soup Kitchen in White Plains.

Upper School Community Service

Service opportunities in the Upper School are diverse and often carry students farther away from campus. Throughout the year, for example, Sacred Heart students volunteer after school at The Carver Center in Port Chester, New York helping young boys and girls with homework and computer skills. On the second Wednesday of every month, Upper School students prepare and serve dinner at St. Luke’s Lifeworks in Stamford, Connecticut taking the time to visit with the homeless before returning to campus.

On the weekends, students spend time volunteering with Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, the Red Cross, Greenwich Land Trust, and serving the homeless through Midnight Runs and at St. Francis Xavier, which is the largest soup kitchen in New York City. At least twice a year, Upper School students are invited to participate in an Urban Plunge experience. Working with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and the Youth Service Opportunities Project, students volunteer at a free medical clinic, at soup kitchens and at homeless shelters. These experiences give our students an opportunity to develop a broad picture of the needs of the urban poor.

Sacred Heart also hosts an annual summer Network service project called “Helping with Hands and Hearts.” Students from around the country spend a week bringing about change in the community of Bridgeport, Connecticut through Habitat for Humanity by building homes along side future owners. Students also build community by living a simple life and sharing the responsibilities of taking care of one another. Evenings are spent reflecting on and discussing daily experiences. This project is one of several sponsored by the Network of Sacred Heart Schools in the United States and Mexico.

Africa Task Force

The Africa Task Force is a group of students, administrators, parents, faculty and staff who are working to develop a committed educational and outreach program on Africa, and Uganda in particular. Supporting our sister Sacred Heart school in Uganda, as well as a new school in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, is the focus of the Africa Task Force’s efforts.

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