Contact: Jenni Brockman
Telephone: 804-443-3357
Fax: 804-443-6781

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

St. Margaret's Students Contribute to Community

Tappahannock, VA (December 12, 2000) - Since late August, more than 10 different organizations in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula have benefited from 725 hours of volunteer service by students at St. Margaret's School.

St. Margaret's School students, faculty and staff have donated a large number of warm winter clothes for distribution to local families. Junior Emily Fisher of Lottsburg and senior boarder Carol Combs, co-chairs of the school's "Basic Needs" community service organization, organized the contributions.

"That's more than more than four months of full-time labor," said Chaplain and Acting Head Ann Riggs. "We think it's an accurate reflection of St. Margaret's commitment to giving back to the community, which has been so good to us for more than 75 years."

Each student must spend at least 12 hours each year in approved service activities. To meet the requirements of the school's new River Program, four of those hours must be water-related. In October, for example, a group cleaned bluebird boxes at the Tayloe Unit of the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge.

"Adolescence is a time in kids' lives when everything is focused on them," explained SMS Community Service Coordinator Mollie Conklin. "It's important and healthy for our students to realize how lucky they are, compared to many others, and to reach outside of themselves. We provide the encouragement."

More than one-third of all SMS students routinely exceed the minimum service requirement, Conklin added, some logging as many as 80 hours in a single trimester. Students also initiate projects of their own. The Basic Needs service organization, headed by senior boarder Carol Combs and junior Emily Fisher of Lottsburg, directs its energies toward providing food, shelter and clothing for area residents. The group held a school supply drive in late summer in coordination with the Child Development Center of Warsaw. It currently is collecting winter clothing for donation to needy local families, and preparing Christmas stockings for distribution through the Salvation Army.

Some of the community organizations that have benefited from the work of SMS students so far this year include:

Belle Isle State Park - cleaning up the river and shoreline

Chesapeake Bay Foundation - planting trees at the Wilna Wildlife Refuge

Clean Virginia Waterways - collecting trash on the Mattaponi River

Habitat for Humanity of Richmond and Westmoreland Counties - painting houses

Riverside Tappahannock Hospital - running children's games at the annual picnic

Salvation Army - ringing the bell for donation kettles

St. Timothy's Catholic Church, Tappahannock - running children's games at the annual picnic

St. John's Episcopal Church, Tappahannock - baby sitting in the nursery

Tappahannock Elementary School - tutoring students in the "Safety, Altruism, Fun and Education" (SAFE) program

Warsaw Health Care Center - coordinating bingo games

XYZ Club at Tappahannock United Methodist Church - collecting change for the club, which it uses to support local charities

St. Margaret's always is interested in forging new community partnerships, Riggs added. If your non-profit group needs the kind of volunteer assistance that SMS students can provide, contact Conklin at (804) 443-3357.

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