Service learning emphasized at Salida del Sol Elementary

Students sew and stuff toiletry bags for Crossroads Mission

At Salida del Sol Elementary School, serving others is a large part of the learning objective.

While third- and fourth-graders in teacher Natalie Gleaves’ after-school sewing club have been making drawstring bags, the rest of the Salida community have been collecting toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, bars of soap and other essential items to fill them. On Wednesday, the finished bags and collected toiletries were donated to Crossroads Mission to, as fourth-grader Anthony Casillas put it, “give to homeless people because they don’t have stuff like that to use.”

The idea started with four teachers – Gleaves, Delanie

Rouff, Kei Foppe and Kirt Gordon – who attended an Apple educator’s conference that challenged schools to do a “day of service” near Martin Luther King Jr. Day to honor his legacy.

After learning how to make Christmas stockings for patients at Yuma Regional Medical Center before winter break, Gleaves’ sewing club was up for the new project.

“We aimed for 10 bags,” said Principal Sheila Mendoza. “When we filled up the 15 we made, we started stuffing the items in gallon-sized bags. But then we ran out of those, too. It shows that even one small act of kindness can grow into something bigger than expected.”

The items spilled over to fill several cardboard boxes, which Crossroads Mission picked up on Wednesday.

“There are a lot of people in need right now and this will definitely help,” said Jose Molina, who works at the mission. “The slogan at Crossroads Mission is ‘glorifying God by helping those in need at the crossroads of their life,’ and this is going to do that.”

For students like Casillas, helping with the project gave him a good feeling.

“It’s important to help people when they’re in need,” he said.

To continue Salida’s community outreach trend, the sewing club is currently learning to crochet scarves after school, which they hope to also donate to individuals in need of some winter warmth.

Buy this photo at YumaSun.com PHOTO BY RACHEL ESTES/YUMA SUN STUDENTS DANNA SANCHEZ, ANTHONY CASILLAS, ARIA ICEDO, HAYDEN FOPPE AND VIENNA ORTIZ helped sew drawstring bags and/or collect toiletries to fill them. They donated all of the items to Crossroads Mission to “help people when they’re in need.”