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Students in the Southern Tioga School District are required to have completed community service hours for graduation. One way to accrue some of the hours is to choose to participate in the Community Service Camp that is offered for one week in the summer by the school district. The Camp meets in the Gym in the Blossburg School. Abigail Storrs, a Special Education teacher in the S.T.S.D. and facilitator of the summer camp, arranged for the camp participants to spend some time with the volunteers at the Mansfield Food Pantry in addition to other opportunities to learn about the importance of helping in the community. Also assisting with the camp is Kim Furry, Social Studies teacher, and Carys Davies, Special Education teacher.

Approximately 23 students arrived at the Food Pantry by school bus from Blossburg to help unload a truck full of food and organize the food pantry for the following day’s distribution. The next day they traveled by school bus again, and upon arrival immediately pitched in with setting up the food boxes and moving items around as directed by Food Pantry volunteers. In a short amount of time the Food Pantry was ready to open and the students helped load cars with boxes of food and supplies. Crystal, a student in the camp, helped greet cars and said “I really enjoyed meeting the people and especially the dogs that were in the cars!”

The Community Service Camp has also helped landscape the Presbyterian Church and cleaned up trash in Smythe Park. They have put 15 welcome baskets together for the Endless Mountain Mission Center in Burlington, which included personal items such as shampoo, soap, and socks. The Mansfield Chamber of Commerce donated 400 packets of seeds to the program. The students created envelopes with instructions for the seeds and the seed packets that they shared with Food Pantry Customers. On Friday the students have planned and organized a Community Field Day at Island Park where they will treat local kids to free games and activities. They created a Golden Shoe scavenger hunt, where the kids have to follow QR code clues found outside Blossburg businesses to find the 2 hidden golden shoes. Winners will receive prizes donated by local businesses. Brook, another participant in the camp said “I really like walking around town and meeting people. Working with others and coming up with ideas for programs has been a lot of fun”.

The students who have had the privilege of participating in the Community Service Camp have been exposed to many forms of service and have had the opportunity to understand the importance of volunteerism. What they have learned in one week of summer camp will help them create a bright future for themselves and others.