Bayberry Christian School in Osterville, Massachusetts, has experienced many positive changes in the 2021-2022 school year. At the beginning of the term in August 2021, they opened a new Pre-K/Kindergarten program for the first time and joyfully welcomed six little students into the school. For the older students, the focus this year has been on incorporating practical Christianity and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with their Cape Cod community through acts of kindness.
Bayberry teacher Sherrie Wall envisioned the students doing some community service activity each month. Beginning in September, the fifth through eighth graders, with the help of Steve Conrad, have been taking on projects to assist someone in need. Conrad, a parent of two Bayberry students, has provided leads for community projects, assisted with transportation to the sites, and any additional help as needed. In September, the students came to the aid of a Cape Cod church member who recently had surgery. The students cleaned and spruced up the member’s yard by spreading mulch, raking leaves and debris, and carrying away tree limbs and branches cut by Conrad to tidy up the property. In October, Conrad informed the school of a neighbor living near the church who needed help clearing away a huge tree that had fallen into their yard. The students and Conrad worked together to cut the tree into smaller pieces and load them into a truck to haul away.
“Now we are looking for the next project because we are so excited, and we want to do something like this at least once a month,” says Dorcas Tosi, Bayberry school principal. “One thing that is great about this is that for weeks prior to us going out, we had been reading and talking about how we can make Christianity practical. Not just preaching about Jesus and how He loves and cares for people but showing it to people around us. [These projects] just fit so perfectly with what we had been learning and discussing in class.”
Tosi added, “I tell my students, as Christians, we have to get our hands dirty; otherwise, what are we doing?”
