St. Margaret’s Episcopal School’s entire faculty and staff dedicated their final professional development day of the school year to contributing significant resources and manpower to the missions and goals of 15 local charitable organizations in San Juan Capistrano, and surrounding Orange County communities. Separated into service teams, the faculty and staff performed much-needed community service projects for these local groups and in turn took away greater meaning, connection and commitment to the school’s mission and focus on service.

“Connecting to and understanding service learning by doing it ourselves, and doing it together, yielded extraordinary learning experiences for us, the faculty and staff who are charged with carrying out our mission and demonstrating our values for our students, ” said Head of School Will Moseley. “We strengthened partnerships with many organizations for which we have longstanding relationships—places where our students are often committing their own time in service, as well. We got to know these valuable organizations better by being on their sites, talking with them and getting our hands into the work. We had first-hand interactions with the communities they serve, and we resolved real needs that they have, in most cases, entirely in one day. Most importantly, each of our employees experienced service learning directly and in doing so we upheld an important pillar of our mission, service to the community."

St. Margaret’s closed offices on Friday, April 29, and 203 faculty and staff members contributed more than 810 combined hours of community service in just one day. Designed and planned over the past six months by a team of faculty service leaders from across the school, led by Lower School Principal Jennifer Blount and Upper School Director of Community Life Lora Allison, the program allowed employees to self-select a service project and cause that was important to them, allowing for deeper connection and meaning.

The group identified the charitable organizations and worked with them to identify real projects that needed support, including, Laura’s House in San Juan Capistrano and Lake Forest; The Ecology Center; The Incredible Edible Farm; Special Camp for Special Kids; Family Assistance Ministries; San Juan Elementary’s Native Garden Project; San Juan Elementary; Kinoshita Elementary; The Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo; Operation Help a Hero; Breakthrough San Juan Capistrano; Welcome Inn; The Friendship Shelter; and International Sanctuary.

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Mrs. Blount said that reflection on time spent in service is an important component of service learning and the feedback from employees has been overwhelming. “We worked alongside colleagues we don’t often interact with. We saw the direct impact of our collective efforts in one day. In hearing the reflections from our faculty and staff, this was a transformational experience on many levels.”

Amazing Tartan spirit filled the day as colleagues from all divisions performed at times strenuous work including, cleaning and preparing barracks for returning Marines at Camp Pendleton, building and installing wheelchair ramps at the group home of a Special Camp for Special Kids family, and removing non-native plants at The Reserve at Rancho Mission Viejo.

“This day was meaningful on many levels. Not only were we working with long-standing community partners, and developing new relationships, but we were able to work across all divisions and departments in a shared experience. There are deepened relationships from this work and as a school we have a renewed sense of this important part of our mission,” said Mrs. Allison.

In addition to the projects mentioned above, teams filled food boxes and stocked shelves at Family Assistance Ministries, rejuvenated San Juan Elementary School’s California Native Garden, and harvested 2,800 pounds of cabbage from the Incredible Edible Farm to donate to Second Harvest Food Bank. Additionally, a team of Tartans planned, shopped for and prepared a meal for more than 50 homeless and working poor in the south Orange County area through the Welcome Inn organization.

A member of the team that painted a mural at San Juan Elementary School, Kim Adams, Lower School instructional assistant, said, “I loved the whole idea of breaking into groups and going out into different places in our community to offer help in a variety of ways. I was blown away by how much we accomplished together, and loved working with teachers and staff I have never met before. I was reminded of how much of an impact we can make in one day when we join together, use our passions, skills and abilities to invest our time in helping others.”

The project started with an idea proposed by Mr. Moseley, a day of service as professional development for faculty and staff. The St. Margaret’s Service Team identified community partners that the school has worked with in all divisions over the years, and then reached out to new contacts to ensure a full range of experiences and a solid representation of the needs that face our local community.

“The pre-meetings that took place by project were especially important. We learned the role of the organization in the community and how they meet the needs of those they serve. This helped contextualize the importance of the projects and also built camaraderie among the teams,” said Mrs. Allison. “Having this day energized our entire faculty and staff around service learning, and it was just a starting point. I am excited to see the ideas and actions that come from it, and how we bring our students in.”