H.O.P.E. Helping Others Prosper Everywhere.

Community service is tightly woven into the fabric of Meadowbrook. We consider it an essential part of a child’s education.  H.O.P.E. serves as the umbrella for all of our community service activities, which involve not only all students from Junior Kindergarten through 8th grade but parents, alumni, faculty and the local community as well.  H.O.P.E. provides a leadership opportunity: each grade has two student representatives who attend monthly meetings and choose that year’s service goals and recipient organizations.

 

Altruism starts early, as our youngest students learn to provide companionship to the elderly.  Junior/Senior Kindergarteners and 1st and 2nd graders visit residents of either of two assisted living/nursing facilities, the Leland Home in Waltham and Epoch of Weston.  Meadowbrook established these partnerships many years ago, and residents look forward to seeing the children around Halloween, for example, when 2nd graders arrive at Epoch in costume after the Meadowbrook Halloween Parade, meeting with their senior buddies and singing in the halls.

In 3rd grade the children visit the Waltham Family School, a bilingual (English/Spanish) Even Start program for kids three to five years old.  Meadowbrook students tutor and mentor their Waltham buddies several times over the course of the year.  The Meadowbrook 4th grade spends time at Emeritus Senior Living in Dedham at Valentine’s Day and then again in June when they recite poetry for residents.  The community service emphasis in 5th grade is primarily on-campus; students volunteer to clean classrooms, plant in the school garden, collect recyclables and perform other helpful tasks at Meadowbrook.

Middle school students incorporate community service projects throughout the year. One major event is the annual dance-a-thon for charity, which has raised several thousand dollars for local nonprofits over the years.

Some of Meadowbrook's other projects:

• Collecting tab-tops for The Ronald McDonald House

• Pan-Mass Challenge bike-a-thon

• Valentines for U.S. service men and women abroad

• Clothing drives for youth aid in Kliptown, South Africa, and the Exshaw School, a First Nation school in British Columbia, Canada

• Book drives

“H.O.P.E. is a wonderful and important part of who Meadowbrook is,” says Linda Rapciak, director of community service (and long-time music teacher). “We’re lucky to have certain things, and we’re lucky we can give our gifts of time and creativity to do things for others. To see the smiles on the kids’ faces – it’s beautiful. Their whole lives, these children will carry the idea of being ambassadors to those less fortunate.

“A smile, a hug, a kind word, standing side by side with someone in need. Not just giving money, but giving time. It’s a feeling of love to make a difference in the lives of others.” Ms. Rapciak has worked at Meadowbrook for 25 years.