HELP CLUB! 

Want to make a difference?

Have ideas about organizations or groups that DSMS students could help out?

Do you want to participate in something bigger than yourself?

Consider joining the HELP Club.

This is a student run group that meets twice each month to plan and organize activities and fundraisers for groups that students are interested in.  Mrs. Merritt (Health) and Mrs. Phelan (Social Studies) are the advisors for this group.  We are always looking for students to volunteer at any time--maybe you can bake, maybe you have a great idea for an organization that needs help.  E-mail us or stop by at our next meeting! 

CHECK OUT OUR BULLETIN board in the lobby!    We have letters from groups and organizations we have helped, photographs from our Field Trip to Rosie's Place in June and thank you letters from the groups and organizations we have helped.  Check out what middle school students can achieve!

FIRST MEETING

Monday October 5 after school in room 234.  We will be kicking off the year and getting YOUR new ideas for what you would like to do.  We will explain what HELP Club is and how you can help us.  We will have snacks and you can take the late bus home.  Our meeting will run from 2:20-3:15.

CURRENT PROJECTS

We will be starting our first food drive of the year in October.  We will be collecting pasta and white rice for A Place to Turn in Natick.  With the poor economy, families are looking for more help with food than ever.  Please bring in a box of pasta (any kind) or a bag of rice.  Leave your donations in the colored bins in front of the main office.  We will be collecting food through the month of October.  We hope to have a group of students deliver the food to A Place to Turn after school one day.

UPCOMING EVENTS

What do YOU think that we should be doing?

We will have a Bake Sale on Friday October 30 to help provide money to a group that rehabs houses for soldiers that have been disabled in Iraq and Afghanistan.   We always need bakers and buyers for these events.  Food will be sold at the top of the stairs from 7:15-the start of advisory.  Left over goodies will be sold at lunch.  As always, no nuts or peanut butter in any baked goods!

Students who are regular HELP Club volunteers will make 2 trips this year after school (leaving during 8th period) to complete some volunteer work with the group.   Last spring, committed volunteers made a full day field trip to Rosie's Place in Boston on Wednesday June 10.   Students served lunch, toured the facility and delivered 7 boxes of books that DSMS students donated.  This gives these students a chance to provide hands-on service and see what our donations do in action!

2008-2009 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

We raised $50 for the DC Trip Scholarship Fund as well--that is a total of $150 to support the new 8th grade Field Trip.

We raised $100 to support Project SPLASH--an effort to get clean water for Africa and Play Pumps in places where the local water supply is poor. This was from a combination of our Raffle and a bake sale.   Most teachers donated one prize (e.g. homework pass, extra points on a quiz or test, bathroom passes, locker passes, game day, etc.).  A student name will be drawn for each raffle prize. 

We collected over 7 boxes of gently used children's books for Rosie's Place, a shelter for women and children in Boston.  These range from picture and board books, early readers and teen/young adult books--keep them coming!  Thank you for your generosity. 

We collected jackets, scarves, coats, mittens and boots that were donated to Cradles to Crayons to be given (not resold) to people in need. 

We raised $75 at our bake sale February 6 to purchase goods for families moving out of transitional housing into permanent quarters.  Items will be small household, kitchen and cleaning products.  The program these items are supporting is HOME START.

We raised $150 to support Cystic Fibrosis. 

We partnered with Student Council to help provide food donations to make Thanksgiving boxes for needy families in the area.  

We collected over 75 pairs of gently used jeans in ALL students sizes to donate to A Place to Turn.  Families in need have a hard time providing expensive clothing items like jeans for their students.  Donating your outgrown jeans can really help another student!

Our first bake sale raised $150 for foster children through the state Department of Children and Families.  This organization helps children who are removed from their families and placed in foster care. 

We collected over 150 boxes of pasta which was donated to A Place to Turn in Natick.  Good job DSMS!

2007-2008 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

We collected over 150 Beanie babies to mail to Mrs. Moloy's nephew who is stationed in Iraq. 

On March 28 we had a bake sale to raise money to give to a student in Medfield whose mother was killed in an incident of domestic violence ($25) and also to raise money for a school program in Boston that one of our students is affiliated with ($100). 

We raised $200 to give to Ledama, the Masaai Warrior who visits DSMS to help his community in the wake of the devastating political violence that has troubled Kenya

We raised $600 for UNICEF to help provide clean water for students in Congo.  Thanks for this wonderful idea from Mlle. Markiewicz's class! 

Raffle for Water for the Congo  Thanks to generous teachers and students, we raised over $350 to help fund clean water in Africa with this fundraiser.  Special thanks go to Mlle. Markiewicz and all of the efforts that her French classes have put into this fundraiser. 

OUR COAT DRIVE FOR the Salvation Army in Framingham was incredibly successful!  Over 100 items were donated by the students, staff and families of Dover-Sherborn Middle School students. 

Foster Care Fundraiser:    We raised about $176 in cash and 64$ in actual gift certificates for foster children in Massachusetts over the holidays.  

Tanzania:   Our materials for Tanzania (school supplies for students and teacher binders for every staff member at the school) were picked up by Natalie Wieder (8th Grade Science teacher Irene Wieder's daughter).  These items and the $250 we raised at our bake sales will be traveling with volunteers to Tanzania where they will be distributed to the school.