February 6th
Open Mike raises over $1800 for Honduras and Appalachia
The GUS community was treated to a wonderful evening of home grown entertainment on Friday night, as student and and faculty performers entertained a large crowd for almost three hours with music ranging from classical through jazz to rock and roll. New to the open mike this year was a showing of original animations by eighth graders. Homemade vegetarian chili and pizza were for sale, and wonderful artwork by the eighth graders graced the walls of the Nance Assembly Room where the event was held. The benefit was held to raise funds for housing repair programs in rural Virginia, where eighth grade students will be traveling in February, and for Rancho Santa Fe orphanage in Honduras, where we have served in previous years, but are prevented this year due to political unrest.
During the week long visit to Appalachia, students will be spending the day reconstructing low-income people’s homes. Some evening activities will include listening to an ex-coal miner, participating in a town hall dance and blue grass concert, listening to local music at a potluck, and meeting with an African-American woman who will talk about race in Appalachia. The students will also spend a day at the local public school, shadowing eighth grade students and doing some service work.
To see more about the organizations we will be serving in February, go to
http://www.binns-counts.org/bc/housing.htm
http://www.stjosephmantua.com/appalachian.html
The students staying local are going to work at Beverly Bootstraps and Turtle Creek senior home.
Watch this space for student blogs and photos of their experiences in Appalachia and Beverly during Work Week.
