Social Action
Mission
The Mason-Rice Social Action committee aims to provide opportunities for students and their families to participate in community service activities. The goal is to build community involvement within the school while raising awareness of social and cultural issues outside of school. Studies show that exposing children to service, volunteering, and philanthropy both teaches them about social issues and deepens their sense of connection to their community. We hope that engaging our children in meaningful and educational ways will foster a commitment to service and help them become active citizens. The efforts will include kids-driven projects (Kids Take Action or KTA), as well as family-oriented projects, and green efforts.
We have a variety of activities planned throughout the school year. Watch the Notes for a preview of upcoming activities.
Here are some of the Social Action events we have participated in in the past:
| Months | Events |
|---|---|
| November | Halloween Candy Drive |
| Mid November – Mid December | Gift of Giving Clothing Swap |
| January – February | Cradles to Crayons (C2C) Toy and Clothing Drive |
| April | Birthday Wishes Goody Bags Newton Serves |
| May | Walk for Hunger Relay for Life |
A few of our bigger programs are:
Gift of Giving: Mason-Rice families help hundreds of children in need have a more joyful holiday season. The Gift of Giving annual holiday outreach to Mildred C. Hailey Housing Development (Boston’s largest public housing development, formerly the Bromley-Heath), the Child Witness to Violence Project (children living in foster care due to domestic violence) and other organizations serving children in need begins in second week of November. Sign-ups will be online this year on Membership Toolkit. where you will be able to select one or more children, and help make their holiday season more joyful by providing them with new gifts. Stay tuned for details in backpacks as well as via the Mason-Rice Notes.
Birthday Wishes: Mason-Rice supports the Birthday Wishes Mission to bring birthday parties to homeless children. Birthday Wishes recognizes the importance of a birthday in a child’s life and believes that the gift of a birthday celebration provides normalcy, joy and hope in these children’s otherwise unsettled lives. There are well over 96,000 homeless children in Massachusetts alone. Help Mason-Rice support Birthday Wishes by donating new and leftover party favor items by dropping them in the box in the Mason-Rice lobby. Watch the Notes for the date and time of the good-bag stuffing party.
Kids-Take-Action (KTA): Kids Take Action (KTA) is dedicated to generating enthusiasm for social action, volunteerism, and philanthropy in elementary school children. The purpose is to inspire children to have a lifelong commitment to take action to help address local and global problems. KTA provides a framework for student-driven efforts to harness the collective energy of the entire school community for the greater good.