R.S. Payne Elementary School Partners with over 30 Nonprofit Organizations for Service Learning Program
SHARE Greater Lynchburg is an online resource to help neighbors connect with nonprofits in our Greater Lynchburg community to better learn about ways to serve. The site features 181 nonprofit organization profiles where neighbors can donate, volunteer, learn about upcoming events and items that the organizations might need. SHARE connects nonprofits through webinars, summits, lunch and learns, and mixers to help break down silos and work more cohesively as a sector so that dollars and impact can go further. One of my greatest joys in this role is making connections between nonprofits and new segments of our community, such as over 500 elementary school students at R.S. Payne Elementary School.
It was my pleasure to collaborate with Whitney Boyd, LCS Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Coordinator and Principal Lori McVicar to coordinate a 2023-2024 service learning initiative at R.S. Payne Elementary School that involved over thirty nonprofit partners.
We initiated a multi-tiered program for the R.S. Payne students that included learning about service, guest speakers, volunteer actions, and site visits to local organizations. Principal McVicar cast an ambitious vision for the first iteration of this program, and we would not have had such success without her vision and passion. The initiative would also not have been successful without over 30 nonprofit leaders (i.e. LCS Partners in Education) answering emails and calls to take time out of their demanding schedules to visit with students sometimes 2 and 3 times to create pathways for education, service, hands-on learning, and tours. Some of these impact photos can be found below.
A successful pilot has now been created, and we hope this will inspire other schools in our region to model a similar program. Service beyond self at any age has a lasting and empowering impact.
As Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service approaches on Monday, January 20, 2025, what will be your lasting and empowering impact? Can you use the SHARE Greater Lynchburg tool to identify at least one way to serve and give back this month?
Many thanks to the following organizations:
| Academy Center of the Arts |
| Blue Ridge Area Food Bank |
| Blue Ridge Conservation |
| Building Communities Near and Far |
| Camp Kum-Ba-Yah Nature Center |
| Centra Medical Group |
| Central Virginia Alliance for Community Living |
| Community Access Network |
| Girls on the Run of Central Virginia |
| Gospel Community Church |
| Hill City Aqua Zoo (formerly SeaQuest) |
| James River Association |
| L3 Harris |
| Liberty University |
| Lynchburg Daily Bread |
| Lynchburg Fire Department |
| Lynchburg Humane Society |
| Lynchburg Imagination Library |
| Lynchburg Police Dept. Canine Unit |
| Lynchburg Public Library |
| Lynchburg Water Resources |
| Meals on Wheels of Greater Lynchburg |
| National Center for Healthy Veterans |
| PACE (Centra) |
| Park View Community Mission |
| Pierce Street Gateway/Garden |
| Vector Space |
| Virginia Cooperative Extension |
| WayMaker Church |
| YMCA of Central Virginia |
To learn more about the RSP Service Learning program, watch this video to see Whitney Boyd and Principal Lori McVicar as our guests on The Mike Show.