Livingstone Academy Students Give Back

Once a month, the sounds of children’s laughter fills the warehouse at Marion Polk Food Share as students from Livingstone Adventist Academy come in for their monthly volunteer shift. The students, ranging in age from 8 to 18, don hair nets and aprons and spend a few hours working together to sort and repack food.  The kids are not just working hard; they are also learning the valuable lesson of giving back.

“Service is a core value of our school,” said Joel Reyes, Principal of Livingstone Academy. “We follow the Christian concept to give and strengthen others. We wanted to teach our students about the value of giving back, so we started looking for an nonprofit where our students could volunteer together on a monthly basis.”

Volunteering at the Food Share was a perfect fit for the students at Livingstone. The students all work together to accomplish a project, and feel good knowing that they are making a difference for people.

“The kids have become much more aware that they are helping the community. They say ‘this is the best field trip ever.’  It’s so important that they discover giving back to the community,” said teacher Nanette Sequerra.

In February, a group of boisterous fourth graders were hard at work.

“We’re packing carrots so that families that don’t have food will have food to eat,” said Mariana.

Her friend Stephanie added, “it makes you feel warm inside that you’re helping people.”

Thank you for your service Livingstone Adventist Academy. Your hard work has packed 45,660 pounds of food so far this year.