Giving Back Locally – Ethical Leadership Group Focuses on Preble Street and Rotary
This year’s Ethical Leadership and Service group is comprised of 19 students from all grades and is co-led by Julia Hansen ’18 and Nick Jenkins ’18. To maximize both their learning and impact, ELS members decided to focus their efforts this year on two organizations- Preble Street Resource Center and Rotary Club International. Many members of ELS have been inspired by their summer experiences with Seeds of Peace, Students Shoulder to Shoulder, or other volunteer opportunities and wanted to find a way to build on their expanded global awareness by giving back locally.
Students just completed a winter coat drive at school for Preble Street in November. Serving at the Preble Street breakfast shift once a month offers a direct way to confront the plight of the homeless and hungry here in Portland and getting involved with Rotary has been a great way to see how average citizens can participate in their own backyard in a nonprofit with a global network and common goals to improve lives worldwide.
This Saturday, 13 students woke up early to serve breakfast at Preble then headed over to the park in South Portland to help sort and sell Christmas trees for the Rotary Club. It was a great day of service with students getting to enjoy the smells of fresh breakfast and fresh evergreen trees in tee shirts on an abnormally balmy December day!