All our crews 6-12 participated in service projects this week. Crews engaged in service projects on 5/1, 5/2, or 5/4, including neighborhood/park/beach clean ups around the city, assisting the NYC Parks Department, playing games at the local senior citizen center, beautifying our school grounds, cleaning up our school building, raising money via a lemonade stand, writing letters to local politicians, packaging birthday presents to donate to local organizations who serve children in need, preparing snack bags and thank you cards for Habitat for Humanity volunteers, and more! BCS crews represented all around our city. We are crew, we participate in making positive change, we are BCS! Here is our extended album of photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fnr5lEGTKuyPSVNG3
SPOTLIGHT ON BETH’S CREW 10!
BCS Crew 506 (10th grade) with crew leader Beth spent their 2-day Better World Day experience first doing service, including making Mother’s Day presents and engaging in an extensive neighborhood clean-up in Little Pakistan, Brooklyn yielding a total of 22 bags of trash (plus a shopping cart)! The following day, the crew was hosted by PAYS, the
Pakistani American Youth Society. We started the day with a short information session on Pakistan, including its history, geography and culture. Students asked lots of questions about foods, customs and the Islamic religion. Then, we were taken on a guided tour of Little Pakistan, along Coney Island Avenue. We visited a mosque that can accommodate over 5000 people and learned about the five pillars of Islam and admired the gorgeous tile with and Arabic calligraphy. From there, we were treated to a lunch of halwa poori chana with jalebi for dessert. Everyone tried (and LOVED) the food – including our pickiest eaters. From there, we were taught about Islamic funeral practices at a local funeral home. We also visited a shop that sells traditional clothing where the girls in the group were given bangles. Our last stop on the tour was to a local jewelry shop where are students were awed by the 24 karat gold jewelry. We returned to the community room at PAYS where we closed by learning how to say the BCS core values in Urdu, a circle of reflection where students shared their learning from the day and finally, a closing circle where we welcomed our new friends into our BCS Crew. The exchange was even documented on South Asian TV:
http://www.vosa.tv/function-organized-for-pakistans-cultural-information-in-new-york-city/! We are an ever expanding Crew! #BetterWorldDay
See our enhanced post here: