Lower School, Middle School, and High School Westbury Christian Students Serve in Local Non Profits
Over the past month, each division at Westbury Christian School participated in a service project. WCS believes volunteering not only benefits our community but also provides an opportunity for our students’ personal growth and development. Our administrators prayerfully plan opportunities for each class to serve the Houston community throughout the year.
Houston Food Bank
In Houston, Texas, the Westbury Christian third graders, sophomores and juniors volunteered to serve at the Houston Food Bank over multiple visits. Students helped pack boxes of food items to help provide meals for those in need. Together they packed 11,520 pounds of food which will provide 9,595 meals.
The sophomores and juniors spent several hours sorting through food donations, checking expiration dates, and packaging items into boxes for distribution.
“We are so proud of our Wildcats for showing Christ’s love by serving others,” says Principal Kaitlyn Ballard.
WCS third graders found the trip inspiring. One of the third grade students, CJ, said, “We learned about teamwork, helping others and offering our time when we are not being paid for it.”
Another third grader, Tamia added, “We can always change the world even when we are young!”
The third grade service project was part of the WCS Lower School’s Project H.U.G. initiative. Established in 2016, Project H.U.G. stands for Hearts Understanding Goodness. The Lower School classes (K3-4th grade) have a month of service centered around an organization the class selects.
“The goal of Project H.U.G. is for our students to share the love of Jesus with their community and the world at large,” says Lower School Principal Amanda Archer. “Our hope is that our students see service as a lifetime opportunity.”
About Houston Food Bank: The Houston Food Bank is a non-profit organization that collects and distributes food to hunger relief charities across 18 counties in southeast Texas. Their mission is to provide food for better lives and work towards ending hunger in the local community. The Houston Food Bank relies heavily on volunteers to help sort and distribute food items. Without volunteers, the organization would not be able to provide the necessary services to those in need.
To watch a video recap of our third graders serving at the Houston Food Bank, watch here: Third Grade Serves at Houston Food Bank
Impact Houston Homeless Outreach Ministry
One of the defining ministries of Impact Houston has always been its outreach to the homeless and marginalized. Impact opens its doors Monday through Thursday to provide a hot meal, shower, clothes, laundry facilities, Bible study and relief from the outdoors for those who need it. Our middle school students (5th-8th grade) had the opportunity to serve alongside Impact volunteers and staff by sorting clothes, hearing stories from ministry coordinators, and cooking and serving a meal for the homeless.
Tim Sells, minister at Impact Church of Christ, told our students, “Today we will be introducing you to a different kind of lifestyle than you are used to—the life of an outdoorsman, which are what we call the homeless men who come in.”
Sells works with the outdoorsmen and talked about what it looks like to be homeless and live on the streets in Houston.
At Impact Houston, there are at least 200 families that come to get food each day. They can serve as many as 1,600 different families each week. Impact Houston would not be able to reach as many families without volunteers, like our students.
After serving, Dennis Jeager showed our middle schoolers the difference between pity and compassion by standing on a chair and talking down to someone as the example of pity, but kneeling down and reaching out a hand to help for the example of compassion. Jaeger also reminded students that small decisions impact our future. “God gives us the ability to choose which way we go, but decisions have good and bad consequences no matter what,” he told students.
To watch the recap of our middle school students serving at Impact, watch here: Middle School Serves at Impact
Westbury Clean Up
Prior to their Senior Experience, the Class of 2023 started the morning performing community service in the Westbury neighborhood. A group of boys spent hours picking up trash in the median. A group of girls deep cleaned the Westbury Church of Christ nursery. These community service projects directly impacted our school community and beyond.
Honor Choir Makes a Joyful Noise to University Place Nursing Center
The Lower School Honor Choir traveled to University Place Nursing Center to sing songs for residents. The Lower School Honor Choir is directed by Bill Ward and consists of students from 2nd through 4th grade. The students sang seven songs to the residents, and their immediate impact was clear.
In addition to a loud round of applause from the audience, the performance also moved some of the residents to tears of joy. The students mingled with the senior residents after the performance and heard how they had made the day brighter for some of them.
At the end of the video clip, you can hear Isabella’s (2nd) explanation for the song selections. Our students are living the truth of the verse found in 1 Timothy 4:12: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
To watch, view here: Honor Choir at University Place 3/29