A Tradition of Service and Giving

 

 

The tradition of community service has deep roots at Crystal. For example, one of the positions on the Student Council in the 1950s was Charity Chairman. This officer presided over the meetings of the Charity Representatives from each grade. The service-oriented Cardinal Club started in 1989 and remained popular for decades, morphing into what is now a plethora of different service clubs. Students, faculty and parents have been participating in Rebuilding Together (formerly Christmas in April) every spring for more than 25 years. Food baskets destined for families in need have long been created by advisory groups, usually around the holidays. For many years, the 9th graders went shopping for groceries to be donated to food banks during Thanksgiving. While they shopped, students had to focus on food prices and finding the most nutritious items that could be purchased within their budget. Throughout the years, various clubs run by students have raised money for the victims of natural disasters all over the globe, served meals at food kitchens, sold jewelry to help African families become self-sufficient, organized clean water projects, built wilderness trails, cleaned beaches, and looked for other ways to give back to the world.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, an annual November tradition was to raise awareness about world hunger. Our Oxfam chapter hosted a Hunger Banquet the week of Thanksgiving each year. Instead of arriving in the cafeteria for the usual lunch menu, students were greeted by Oxfam club members who gave them tickets labeled “Third World,” “Second World,” or “First World,” in the nomenclature of the times. Club members had cleared most of the tables and chairs away. The vast majority of students were then instructed to sit on the floor to receive their “lunch.” Third World ticket holders got a cup of water and a few squares of bread; another group of Third Worlders were told that there was no food today, but that water was available; those with Second World tickets got some fruit or vegetables to go with their bread; First Worlders – eight or ten lucky students – got to sit at two tables and were served a full meal, including bread, salad, meat, a choice of beverage and a dessert. In this way, the entire student body was given a glimpse into the realities of hunger around the world. The conversations at the “banquet” were enlightening and the money saved by not cooking lunch for four hundred people that day was donated to Oxfam. Holding the event the same week as Thanksgiving added power to the message. Over the years, many Gryphons must have reflected on the blessings of being born into a First World family as they sat down for their bountiful Thanksgiving dinners. Not a few of them were inspired to become much more involved in community service.