Piles of boxes lay scattered in a messy pile outside the Sophomore Commons. Spirals, books, pencils, pens; all lay atop or beneath a table adorned with a large logo. “Commit!” it reads, with “Our kids. Our tomorrow.” under the attention-grabbing exclamation. A closer look reveals the purpose of this display.
It’s a supply drive. That alone is relatively obvious. The piles of donations and sticky notes labeled with student names and IDs reveal that much. The more important question is “What for?”, a question whose answer explains why this drive is unique. All of the donations are intended for Commit!, a Dallas-based organization dedicated to the education of at-risk youth in the DFW metroplex. Jesuit works with this charity not only through the charitable donations of the supply drive, but in person on Wednesdays.
The school supplies were all counted and then loaded into the cars of Jesuit seniors, who brought the boxes along with them to their service sites, which consist of: Julian T. Saldivar Elementary, Nathan Adams Elementary, David G. Burnet Elementary, Obadiah Knight Elementary, and Jerry R. Junkins Elementary. These Seniors belong to the Commit! Senior Service program, and travel to schools with majority low-income students to help them succeed despite their harsh circumstances. The main mission of Jesuit students at these schools is the improvement of literacy.
According to Mr. Riemer, the faculty leader for the Commit! Service Program, the supply drive “is a part of our comprehensive efforts to improve the literacy rates at five local elementary schools, all of which are in our neighborhood. Commit! consists of a number of efforts: Wednesday pre-k – 3rd grade tutoring in conjunction with the senior service program, Tues/Thurs after-school tutoring and mentoring, and Saturday school which specifically addresses low performing students who have specifically been identified as low performing. In addition we try to provide much-needed resources and supplies which will enhance our efforts on each campus as well as the school’s on-going reading and literacy programs. The supply drive helps to close the gap in lack of resources at the school in which we serve.”
Literacy is an important aspect in lifting children out of poverty, which is a huge problem in the Dallas area. “Nearly three-quarters of children in the county’s public schools now qualify for free or reduced-price lunch” according to The Dallas Morning News, which also notes that our city “ranks third in the nation in child poverty.” Through acts like the supply drive and Senior service, Commit! is trying to change that.
“We collected over $5000 worth of supplies and were able to fully meet some of the needs on the campuses where we serve,” Riemer said on the results of this year’s drive, continuing to add that “each year is different and the supplies we collect reflect the specific identified needs on individual campuses. The requests for this year were very specific and intended to target needs of specific and innovative programs. I’m happy we are able to provide materials which will help teachers take their programs to the next level.”
Riemer also shared his feelings on the drive, saying, “Anything we can do to benefit our immediate community, as this drive does, I think is a great thing. Our service efforts should not only meet a need, but truly work to transform our community. Increasing the literacy rates of children living in our community does just that. Education is a basic right and an educated community, a literate community, is a better community. ”
These school supplies aren’t like the average canned food or blanket drive items, where students send off their donation for a community service credit and forget the whole ordeal. Jesuit students personally see the effects of donations every week. Some of the schools that Seniors work with are already hard-pressed for funding, and private donations provide some relief. Clay Phillips ’16, a site leader at David G. Burnet Elementary, shared his experience delivering the donations: “Delivering the supplies was a very moving experience. The Burnet Elementary staff was so appreciative, and their faces lit up when we walked in with these huge boxes of school supplies. It’s also great to see our own donations put to use, it really gives a tangible result to the drive.”
The generosity of Jesuit students in both charity and service truly embodies what it means to be Men for Others. Hopefully the supply drive is even more successful next year, and makes an even greater impact on the Dallas community.
