Students Serve at Open Door Mission
Treynor 6th through 12th grade students and teachers spent Wednesday, April 12th at the Open Door Mission in Omaha for a "Day of Caring" Event. This service-learning project was an invaluable experience for all who served. A lot of positive feedback was given and received after the day, with the Open Door Mission staff praising our students and staff. President & CEO, Candace Gregory was quoted as saying "many of my team members have been with the Open Door Mission for 10, 15, 20+ years and Treynor has risen the bar of expectations for the future. We hope you will come back next year." One student excitedly communicated to her mom later that she wanted to come back as a family and volunteer at the Open Door Mission. Many students reported developing a compassion and empathy for the homeless that they did not have before this day. Many students were surprised at the number of people that use the services of the Open Door Mission and would welcome the opportunity to go back.
The day was organized by teachers Jane Leick, Joan Palmquist, Bob Beattie, Scott Rucker and Lori Burton and facilitated by Principals Berens and McNeal. The day started with the loading of students and the fleet of buses making the trip to Omaha. Upon arrival, students were assembled in the Garland Thompson Men's Center Community Room and a Welcome and Public Awareness Presentation was given by Candace Gregory. After that, the students were split into teams for a campus tour and their volunteer projects.
Sixth Grade students sorted, inventoried and repackaged ten pallets of "Feed the Children" boxes. 7th Grade students were assembled to make over 1000 sandwiches and sack lunches for street programs to be used on Thursday. 8th Graders sorted, organized and shelved donations at the Timberlake Outreach Center in preparation of serving 850 needy families. Pulling weeds, picking up trash, working in and around the 10,000 square-foot garden and greenhouse as well as washing shuttle vans inside and out and painting parking lot lines was a service done by the 9th grade students. Tenth-graders worked in the Receiving and Distribution Goods Area, condensing clothing in the back area, helping to sort incoming donations and removing items in the shoe area for afternoon cleaning and shelf sorting and refilling. Junior students worked on sorting donated canned goods and filling the shelves at the People Choice Food Pantry while the Seniors' responsibilities were assembling the food pantries.
Students felt proud that they were able to help finish things that have been on the Shelter's "to do" list for a long time. The employees of the Shelter were overwhelmed by the amount of work the Treynor students were able to get done, far surpassing their expectations.
Great job to our students and staff that worked hard and were wonderful representatives of our school!