Adams Middle Schoolers Gather Items for Homeless

By Terry Vivori - April 25, 2008
Community Submission

Students at Adams Memorial Middle School prepare a presentation on homelessness. View Slide Show

ADAMS — Sixth-graders at Adams Memorial Middle School have been learning about what it's like to be homeless.

The children, in Terry Vivori's life skills class, spent the past two months finding out not only how homelessness affects individuals, families and the area but in working on projects that will help local residents who are homeless. The efforts were part of a community service learning project called "Helping Hands for Our Homeless."

The students completed actitivies, interviewed the house coordinator of Louison House, the local shelter for women and families, and then planned and presented an assembly on Friday, April 18, designed to educate the entire school about the issue.

They also learned about homelessness through books purchased with a mini-grant from the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's Youth Target-UNITY group.

During the assembly, the students presented skits about homelessness, read poems that they had written, showed a PowerPoint presentation they had put together with statistics about homelessness and chose appropriate songs to go with it.

At the end of the assembly, they asked their peers and staff to bring in donations for the Louison House, which resulted in an outpouring of items and money.

Throughout the process, the students became aware of who is homeless, how people become homeless and who can help. They also discovered how fortunate they are and the importance of helping others who are less so.

As the culmination of their project, the students were able to present the Louison House with 447 needed items and a cash donation of $200 for bus passes.

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