May,1995
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Central and Barlow Students Come Together to Serve Others
Interact Club Takes Part in Weekend Service and
Understanding
By Valerie Smith
Members of Central's Interact Club joined students from Joel Barlow High School of Easton-Redding to participate in an AFS service weekend.
Aiming to be both a cultural exchange and a service project the program included discussions, visits to each school, and volunteer work at Habitat for Humanity, the South End Community Center and the Alpha Home shelter.
"The AFS Service Weekend was started seven years ago as an effort to understand different cultures in our own backyard in a constructive way," said a spokesman for Barlow's AFS Club, which received a national award for their community service program.
I joined my Central classmates Tauheedah Muhammad, Sabrina Dulaney, Noreen Brown, Anayo Chukwurah, Dashondra Brown, Elaine Wheeler, and Mary Stalpinski in participating in the program which began on Friday, March 31. Thirteen Barlow students came to Central to experience the people in Bridgeport. Central students returned the visit several weeks later. On Saturday April 1, the two groups came together to work from 8:30 to 5:00 at various sites.
In the morning some of the students worked at Habitat for Humanity on the East Side of Bridgeport. They worked together with professional carpenters, electricians, and plumbers to rebuild some of the vacant houses located on Pembroke and Ogden Streets.
Other students went to work at the South End Community Center. They planted trees with the children living in the neighborhood. They also helped out at an Arts and Crafts Fair organized by the center. The most enjoyable part of that day was when the neighborhood children got together and talked about their goals with some of the high school students.
The last service project of the day involved a carnival sponsored by Alpha Home Shelter at the First Church of Fairfield. Students worked at concession stands, game booths, merchandise markets and escorted the families who attended fun fun-filled carnival.
When the day ended we all regrouped at the Golden Hill Church in Bridgeport. We watched The Lion King and Renaissance Man, while other students prepared a spaghetti dinner.
Sunday morning we ate breakfast got dressed, cleaned the church and left to see a dedication of one of the Habitat duplexes. Families must contribute 500 hours of work to buy the house at cost with a twenty year no-interest mortgage. It was a touching ceremony, the whole neighborhood crowded around to share the families' happiness.
That evening we returned to Golden Hill Church and had a discussion on gangs, violence, fear and diversity. It was a very educational discussion. I believe that both Barlow and Central students left the discussion with an open mind and a new look at life. Most important we realized we all are the same, that we share the same problems and go through the same struggles. It's a shame that we fear each other.
