The students were excited to make contributions to Calvary Home. Pictured left to right: Davis Hill ‘25 of Clarkesville, GA, Matthew Rivera ‘25 of Franklin, NC, Abe Loveland ‘25 of Rabun Gap, GA, Julian Moore ‘25 of Franklin, NC, and Hunter Tolleson ‘25 of Highlands, NC.
For the past few weeks, Middle School students at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School have been gathering supplies to send to Calvary Home for Children in Anderson, South Carolina as a part of their annual holiday service project. Pots and pans, bed-sheets, paper products, toiletries and more were given to the cause and set around a Christmas tree in the Middle School auditorium on December 17.
The students gathered together in the auditorium that morning to hear from Laura Lindsley, a representative from Calvary Home who has been on staff with the organization for eight years. She gave a brief presentation to the students more information about the Calvary Home. According to their website, Calvary Home strives for every child to be nurtured in a welcoming, reliable, and Christ-centered home and be united with their family as a more physically, emotionally, and academically stable individual..
According to their website, Calvary Home strives for every child to be nurtured in a welcoming, reliable, and Christ-centered home and be united with their family as a more physically, emotionally, and academically stable individual.
The students were shown a video tour of one of the group homes where the foster children live and were surprised to see that their home accommodations are not unlike their own. Lindsley shared stories of her time as a house parent and of her love for the kids she serves.
The sixth-graders were assigned the task of loading the gifts onto the truck, a job that they took very seriously. They carefully organized the items and worked together as a team to get the job done.
Johnathan BySura, science teacher and Experiential Education Coordinator at the Middle School, heads up the mission every year.
“I personally want to say thank you to all the students, parents, and staff that always treat Calvary Home like family. Our school’s support is valuable to Calvary Home. We now have a nine-year relationship of service with Calvary and it continues to be a relationship built on love and support of children,” said BySura. “As the old adage goes, children make up only 20% of the population, but they are 100% of our future. Calvary’s mission is to continue to educate struggling parents, to keep families together, and to eliminate the vicious cycle of abuse and neglect from generation to generation. They are a great example to our students that children and families need support as much in the United States as they do abroad. The problems are real here, and it’s always eye-opening for our young students at Rabun Gap to understand that these problems exist so close to home.”
