Fuqua lends a helping hand

Published 12:04 pm Tuesday, October 13, 2015

In celebration of homecoming, Fuqua School students participated in the annual Fuqua Day of Service on Thursday in several locations across the Farmville area.

According to Fuqua’s Director of Communications and Special Events Linda Davis, upper school students were given the opportunity to participate in community service activities at various locations to enforce a sense

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of responsible citizenship.

Over a 2-hour span, small groups of students visited locations that included Habitat for Humanity, FACES, the Prince Edward Volunteer Rescue Squad, the High Bridge Trail and the Wesley Foundation.

“The students come every year and they always do great work,” said Matt Ridout, Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore manager. “They clean a whole bunch of furniture and it allows us to get it on the floor. They’ve been working so hard cleaning that we can’t keep up with them bringing it on to the floor.”

Blossom Bourne, a junior at Fuqua school, volunteered to do community service at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. “I enjoy it a lot,” she said. “I did this last year and I’d like to continue volunteering here. It’s a lot of fun.”

Student Madelyn Bickford also spent her time volunteering at the Habitat ReStore cleaning furniture. Bickford said they don’t really have a lot of volunteers, so it was a lot of fun to help out in the community.

“A lot of times the kids will come and they’ll think they’re just cleaning furniture, and it’s not making that big of a deal,” Ridout said, “but all the furniture they’re cleaning today, we’re probably going to make about 500 dollars off of.”

According to Davis, Fuqua students are required to complete 40 hours of community service as a graduation requirement. The middle school students were also given the opportunity to join in on the experience with community service activities on campus. “Middle school students packed 2,400 shoe boxes for Operation Smile today,” said Davis.

“I think my favorite thing about this is that kids who aren’t necessarily in class or the same grade together still get to meet each other, work together and feel like they’re representing Fuqua,” said Diane Stubbins and school volunteer chaperone. Stubbins was given the opportunity to supervise a group of 11 students during their community service at FACES.