As we approach the holiday season, Tabor’s Community Service Board is busy planning seasonal offerings for community outreach. The board, comprised of 15 students who were chosen based on their commitment to service, is advised by faculty members. Together, the board members create, organize, and execute Tabor’s various volunteer opportunities with an emphasis on making community service accessible to all students.
In the brief time between Thanksgiving and Winter Break, a variety of activities are available to the Tabor community so that students may pursue their personal passions and choose an event that suits their interest in a particular cause. Sunday Supper will be offered on December 8th and students may help serve hot meals to people in need and assist with food pantry projects at the Salvation Army in the nearby city of New Bedford.
In addition, the Marion Holiday Stroll falls on December 8th and there are a variety of volunteer opportunities Tabor students may participate in. Students can join Sammy the Seawolf to hand out cookies when Santa arrives by boat at the town dock or help set-up and break down at the Music Hall. They may also help collect garbage and keep Marion clean during the Stroll. This wonderful event is extremely popular among students and is a great way to get in the holiday spirit!
The following weekend, students can volunteer at the Holiday House Tour on Saturday, Dec. 14 from 1:20 – 4:10 PM. Several Marion homes are decorated for Christmas and people come from around the area to tour them. Tabor provides the Sippican Woman’s Club with ten student hosts for the homes. Student volunteers greet visitors and help out in any way required. The Holiday House Tour is a festive way to help our local community, as the proceeds from the House Tour go towards scholarships for Marion students pursuing bachelor’s degrees.
As well as individual service, there are also group opportunities such as Holiday Hope, run by New Bedford Child and Family Services. Each participating Tabor group is matched with a local family in need to help them with their holiday wish lists and to provide gift cards to assist with providing a festive holiday meal. This year, Tabor is sponsoring 20 families, each of which is supported by a group on campus such as a dorm, an advisory group, faculty families, athletic teams, staff groups, and the Parents' Association. After wrapping and labeling their gifts, participating groups drop off their gifts in the Admissions Living Room for another team to transport it all to Child and Family Services in New Bedford where the families pick them up. While Holiday Hope is not a student-run initiative, there are many students involved each year who lead the charge on campus and organize the groups. Brian Nam ’20, a dorm proctor, shared the importance of service to him, stating, “the Holiday Hope Project will be a great opportunity for our dorm to learn the power of volunteerism and that collective effort can lead us to achieve things that an individual can not, like giving happiness and hope to our community.”
Once the buzz of the Holiday Season in Marion lulls, an important student-created initiative begins. Amelia Ventouris and Emma Quirk’s “I Am That Girl” Club Toiletries Project will be in full swing around Valentine’s Day. The IATG Club provides toiletries for women staying in a local women’s shelter. Items such as lip balm, feminine products, and shampoo are important to women staying at the shelter and donations are appreciated. Quirk noted that Ventouris did this sort of project through her church as a child and decided to start it here at Tabor.
Quirk said, “We call the New Bedford Women’s Shelter and ask how many women will be there and then we make each person a nice looking basket of feminine products and toiletries that the shelter can’t offer, things like shampoo, lip balm, and other comfort items that aren’t necessities in the eyes of the government who help support the shelter. We are happy to give them these items to make their stay a little more comfortable.” Girls in IATG Club also write letters of encouragement to the women with the hope that they enjoy the baskets and will reach out should Tabor be able to help further. “It is a nice outreach and we are happy to do it,” said Quirk.
While our service work is ongoing throughout the year, it is wonderful to be in a community that actively cares and works to bring people together and make the holidays brighter for people near and far.
