At Livingstone Adventist Academy in Salem, Ore., Proverbs 22:6 isn’t just a memory verse. It’s a mission.
Outreach activities are incorporated into every grade’s curriculum. When asked why the staff makes outreach a priority, Sharon Dickerson, fifth-grade teacher, replied, “To teach them that even they are able to help others in need.” Putting action behind those words, Dickerson’s class and Adriel Cook’s fourth-grade class collected money to buy Christmas toys for local needy children.
The holidays are not the only time that the spirit of giving is evident. When the hurricane victims needed funding, Sharon Cutz’s eighth-grade class took a sweet fundraising route by teaming up with Cold Stone Creamery to raise funds. Also hitting a sweet tooth was Elizabeth Fish’s seventh-grade class, which sold root beer floats to fund vaccinations for orphaned children in the Congo.
In the lower elementary, Daina Winslow-Rogers’ second and third graders made a trip to WinCo, purchasing food to help fill the school’s donation barrels. Emillie Hathaway, a second-grader, commented, “I would do it again because it is fun helping out.”
Livingstone’s high school is also involved in outreach. The senior class is currently in the process of planning a mission trip as their senior class trip. Don Mansell, school chaplain, sums it up best by saying, “They are re-energized when they forget about their own needs and experience putting others first."
Seventh graders Anita Galeano, Jazmine Sequeira and Kiara Larson take a break from selling root beer floats.
