Claypit Garden Plays Integral Role in School-Wide Service Day

Students filed two-by-two out of Deane Coady's Claypit Hill classroom Monday afternoon lugging bags and boxes full of fresh homegrown produce to the waiting vehicle of Louis Miller, director of Turning Point Shelter.

Stalks of Brussels sprouts poked out of brown paper bags that were full of various veggies, all harvested from Claypit Hill's own garden and destined to feed the more than 70 people that depend on such donations each day at Turning Point Shelter in Framingham, Roland's House in Marlborough, and Shadows and Meadows in Ashland.

Coady's second graders partnered with a fifth grade class to collect food for the project, one of 13 projects taking place throughout the school as part of the Second Annual Claypit Cares event.

Miller explained to the students that Turning Point and its affiliated shelters provide shelter for adults and children who need a place to live.

"It's a place that's almost like home for some people," Miller said. "But it's not home. It's a place where people go when they have nowhere to stay.

"We want to give people hope and take care of them."

Miller explained later that all of the food collected from the school will be used to provide meals for the people staying in the shelters. 

"It's uncommon," Miller said of the young students having an interest in supporting shelter efforts. "Young people these days don't think like that."

But at Claypit Hill, young people do connect with community service efforts and  that's partly because of the various projects in which classrooms regularly take part.

Two years ago, the school held its first Claypit Cares event with the purpose of connecting all those individual projects into a single focused event.

"All of us wanted to think about how to empower our students to make a difference," said Heidi Paisner, a special education teacher at Claypit and one of the primary organizers for Claypit Cares.

Paisner said that the first Claypit Cares event had students helping national and even global charities, but for this second event, the projects remained more local in scope.

"This year we realized there was so much need here in Massachusetts," Paisner said.

Claypit's 26 classrooms and its after-school program chose to put their efforts behind one of 13 projects, ranging from donating food to collecting warm clothes or toys.

"Everyone has been incredibly supportive," Paisner said, mentioning specifically the commitment of parents. "The parents' generosity exceeded my expectations. They've been incredibly generous with their time, their money.

"How powerful to have everyone do it together."

You can read more about Turning Point Shelter and other services provided by the South Middlesex Opportunity Council at www.smoc.org.