Sidwell Friends Summer Service Socials keep support flowing even when school is out.

Sixty cartons of books. More than 200 snack bags. Boxes stuffed with ingredients for 2,500 meals. Approximately 890 meat-and-cheese sandwiches. That's what some 120 Sidwell Friends family and alumni volunteers put together during three afternoon service social events this summer.

Summer—when school’s out—does not mean people in need are not hungry nor stop relying on personal essentials—or books for that matter. And the Sidwell Friends community’s commitment to service does not halt during the summer months either.

Spearheaded three years ago by Director of Parent Relations Kathi Webb and Center for Ethical Leadership Coordinator and Community Engagement Coordinator Alex McCoy, the Summer Service Socials bring new and current families and alumni together not only to get to know each other outside of school but also to collaborate on helping various local community partners. “It’s easier for people to connect when they are busy with their hands and involved in a collective project, especially one that helps others,” says Webb. 

"This summer, the volunteers at the June Service Social sorted and packed hundreds of donated books to give to several of Sidwell’s established partners, including Martha’s Table, Comfort Cases, and DC Books for Prisons. One volunteer was Yvonne Jones Lembo ’81, who happened to be in town and wanted to join the effort. Lembo hadn’t been back to campus for years but fit right in. “She took on the Books for Prisons donation and packed eight boxes of novels, mysteries, and thrillers that were much appreciated by the organization,” says Webb. “She brought great energy to the afternoon, which her fellow volunteers certainly enjoyed.”

The July event focused on making healthy snack packs for So What Else, Inc., a not-for-profit committed to improving the lives of children and families living in underserved communities in Maryland and Washington, DC. Some of the younger kids opted to handmake bookmarks or write cards of kindness and encouragement.

Organized by the Upper School Families4Families student club, more than 50 volunteers at the August social sorted 60 bags of donated groceries, non-perishables, and personal hygiene products into big cartons for donation to Horton’s Kids—an educational nonprofit. Once the groceries were packed, two alums and the father of one new student washed more than 100 water bottles collected from the School’s lost and found to donate to Bethesda Cares. This donation followed another 100 previously washed, with another 100 ready to go in the next week. That’s a total of 300 water bottles from Sidwell’s lost and found collected during the last school year and this summer.

In addition to the monthly events, volunteers—all summer long—made and donated meat-and-cheese sandwiches and fruit to Bethesda Cares, a service project in which Sidwell Friends participates year-round.

“Doing for others is a way we can show respect to everyone on the planet,” says Webb. “We are incredibly privileged here; how can we not do our best to help others?”