By Molly Friend, Greenheart Outreach Coordinator
Each summer groups of teenage students from all over the world head to the USA for a few weeks to get a glimpse of life the in the USA through our Short-term English Language & Culture Programs. In addition to a taste of life in the USA, they are introduced to volunteerism through a Greenheart project during their stay. This summer Greenheart projects were as varied as the places the students visited. Here is a highlight of Greenheart projects our Short-term groups participated in.
Palm Coast, Florida
French students who participated in our Independent Homestay got to volunteer alongside American teens to preserve a historic space at Princess Place in Florida. There project was even in the local paper!
Burlington, Vermont
A group of Japanese students gardened at the local Mater Cristi School in Burlington for their Greenheart Project.
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
Another group of Japanese students visited Kentucky and while there learned about food pantries and hunger in the USA. They volunteered with Feeding America sorting food. The local paper shared their story too!Japanese student Risa described the volunteer activity: We went to Feeding America on August 2nd. We were divided into two groups and my group worked on macaroni line and put one scoop of macaroni into a bag. The other group packed each food items. They were going to be given to low income elderly people in the U.S. We packed 300 hundred boxes. It was hard but I was happy that we could finish all of the work and help them. We were active and enjoyed to do that, so I thought we could do a real volunteering. I hope this would be help of many suffering people and that more and more people will take part in such work.
Boston, Massachusetts
Independent Homestay students from France and Italy partnered with American teens to volunteer at Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area!
