Compassion Weekend at Castro Elementary
What a weekend! On April 25-26, 300 volunteers from Open Door Church (ODC) of Mountain View, a campus of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (MPPC), and several other Reach Potential volunteers teamed up to support Castro Elementary in Mountain View. From construction projects and health screenings to parent education workshops and a Treasure Hunt Reading Festival for the kids, MPPC’s annual Compassion Weekend launched another ongoing partnership between a local church and a high need school to help children reach their God-given potential.
Castro’s Principal Dr. Judy Crates reflected on the weekend’s events:
“Money can’t buy what happened here today. The sense of helping, caring and commitment demonstrated by these volunteers is contagious. Who wouldn’t want to go the extra mile after seeing the faces of our parents who used a computer for the very first time today? Who wouldn’t want to do more when they see the expression on a child’s face who gets to choose a book that belongs only to him or her?”
At the Treasure Hunt Reading Festival, students followed a treasure map on an adventure journey with a volunteer “Adventure Guide.” Students experienced various literacy activity stations, “authored” their own books and reached “Treasure Island” where they were able to shop for 10 books to take home as their own. Parents attended workshops in Spanish on How to Use a Computer and other educational topics, and received a parenting book in Spanish as a take-home resource.
The two goals of the festival were to foster the kids’ excitement and pride in literacy and introduce the Open Door Church community to their neighboring Castro neighborhood where the vast majority of families are low income and English language learners. Several ODC small groups and families are now interested in providing classroom support for Castro teachers and students through RP Kids Classroom Adoption Project.
RP Kids exists to ignite and unite community members to empower kids-at-risk to reach their God-given potential. Baylight Community Church in Mountain View was the pioneering force behind mobilizing community groups to adopt classrooms. Now our community partnership called “Heart for Castro Neighborhood,” has expanded to eight churches. Highway Community Church has joined the movement to support low income schools by sponsoring an after-school Art studio class at Landel’s Elementary. With recent budget cuts and possible future cuts, there’s a tremendous need and opportunity to partner with RP Kids and a school near you. For more information, please contact Christy Tonge at Christy@RPMovement.org
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That’s awesome seeing churches and RPM come together to support their community.