Hurricane Ike may have knocked out the lights for a few weeks, but it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of dozens of local volunteers from Mission Houston, who came together on October 18 to give Charles Shearn Elementary School a “face-lift.”
Approximately 75 people from area churches—in conjunction with teachers, staff members, parents, and students—participated in the effort to beautify the campus by landscaping, painting, pruning, and mulching.
“Principal Buck was very supportive of our efforts,” said Mission Houston Project Coordinator Jeff Peters. “I was pleased to see our faith-based community members gathering together and extending themselves to support our students.”
Peters worked closely with Principal Bill Buck to identify and prioritize projects at the school, and started with the ones that would have the most impact. “Due to Hurricane Ike, we did limited promotion of this event and were planning on a reduced work day with only 40 people,” explained Peters, “but the commitment was so strong that we wound up with 75 volunteers. We will tackle the rest of the projects in spring.”
Mission Houston also began a mentoring program in October 2008 at Shearn. Entitled the “Whole and Healthy Children” initiative, it is a 10-year commitment to assist local elementary schools with high percentages of at-risk students.
