Students in Gladys A. Abraham Elementary School’s new EarlyAct club have taken their vow of community service seriously, and announced Wednesday that they have been working since October to raise funds to sponsor the education of three students in Haiti.
EarlyAct is closely linked to Rotary International, and seeks to spread the organization’s message of “service above self” to students across the world. Gladys Abraham’s EarlyAct members were officially sworn in during a charter ceremony held Wednesday at the school, with officers from the Rotary Club of Charlotte Amalie, the group’s sponsor, presiding and even taking the time to pin each of the 20 participating students.
After the ceremony, Gladys Abraham’s principal, Lisa Hasell-Forde explained that even though the club was not official until Wednesday, its students had been meeting for months and working together on fundraisers that brought in $1,500 for their cause. Hassell-Forde said the club had originally pledged to sponsor one child in Haiti, but ended up being able to sponsor three – and is currently working on helping one more.
The “early actors,” as they were called Wednesday, have also been helping in their own community, organizing among other things a canned food drive for the Bethlehem House. More events are in the works, Hassell-Forde said.
"It is so great for us to have an EarlyAct Club at our school," Hassell-Forde said during the ceremony. "We all know the benefits that a club like this can bring – when students begin to spread their joy and love of service throughout the campus."
Later, she added that the students meet once a month and members even pay dues. Rotarians Loretta Lloyd, a past Rotary Club of Charlotte Amalie president, along with Diana White, a past district governor, attend many of the students’ meetings and help to supervise the operations, Hassell-Forde added.
"The purpose of EarlyAct is to get students to really enjoy working within their community, to understand the needs of that community and to get them involved in helping to meet those needs," White said during the ceremony Wednesday.
White added that students in the school’s EarlyAct club will be able to continue their good deeds in similar clubs set up at the local middle schools, and may even want to join up in college, where they can be part of Rotaract clubs set up for people age 13 to 30.
White also announced Wednesday that two of the club’s officers – sixth graders Lezli-Ann Richardson and Kymani Williams – had taken the two top spots in an essay contest sponsored by Rotary International’s district 7020, a contest that gave students in schools across the northern Caribbean a chance to write stories about helping people. White said 142 entries were submitted – representing the 80 Rotary clubs participating in the district – and that the stories have already been published in an e-book and will soon be published in a limited edition hardcover in English, Spanish and Creole.
Gladys Abraham’s EarlyAct Club officers are as follows:
Lezli-Ann Richardson (president)
Kymani Williams (vice-president)
Shymar Bazar (secretary I)
Elizabeth Ferguson (secretary II)
Pamela Collin (sergeant of arms)
Asani Cintron (treasurer)
Kimmo Emanuel (public relations officer I)
Kymanni Stevens (public relations officer II)