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Community Partners Come Together for Global Youth Service Day
On April 16th, over 200 youth participated in Global Youth Service Day at the Boys and Girls Club in Brockton, MA. Youth and their families were invited to give back to their community on this exciting day which included such activities as gardening, landscaping, writing letters to members of our armed forces, organizing supplies for School on Wheels of Massachusetts, and creating academic enrichment forms for youth who are in medical facilities. Students from Massasoit Community College, Bridgewater State University and Stonehill College all participated in the event, as well as various community partners from MyTurn, Inc., the Boys and Girls Club, the Old Colony Y and several other organizations.
One of the highlights of the day was the Mural Project hosted by the Massachusetts Promise Fellowship. MPF is an Americorps program based out of Northeastern University that gives Fellows who commit to a year of service the opportunity to create, lead, and manage youth development projects. In collaboration with Global Youth Service Day, MPF held their 3rd Annual “Opportunity to Serve Day.” This is a statewide day of service that features the service projects of 5 fellow host sites across Massachusetts. While some fellows worked with volunteers to paint murals at the Boys and Girls Club in Brockton, other fellows worked with volunteers at MPF service sites in Boston, Cambridge, Lynn and Worcester.
The Coordinator for the Brockton Site was Patricia Godio, the Massachusetts Promise Fellow at Mayor Balzotti’s Office. She oversees the Brockton Youth Council whose members worked to develop the idea for this project. The murals that were created on this day will be given to various youth-serving organizations in the City as a way to thank them for all that they do. Funded by the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office and designed by Artists for Humanity the murals featured logos of partner organizations. On the day of the event, younger kids were paired with adolescents and adults to work together on completing the murals.
The day also featured a project with the Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Project. The Healthy Start team and the Boys and Girls Club have been working with this nonprofit to help bring a community garden to the City of Brockton. The children who participated in this project learned about farming techniques and the importance of fresh vegetables. They also got to make their very own “flower bombs” to plant in their yards at home.
The day ended with a lunch for the volunteers, as well as an awards celebration. Thank you to all of those who served with us on this special day, especially the youth! It was a wonderful addition to the great projects that have already taken place in the City of Champions this month, including the Parent’s Leadership Conference on April 9th and the Mayor’s Youth Summit on April 2nd! To learn more about these great events, sign up to receive the Brockton’s Promise newsletter! To learn about other service opportunities, such as Keep Brockton Beautiful Day, please click here!
For more photos from the day’s events check out the BYC Facebook page!