SERVICE FOR PEACE

Service and Learning

Service for Peace develops projects and educational programs that motivate volunteers to serve in their communities on a continual basis. Our goal is to fully engage our volunteers through effective and meaningful service.

Effectiveness of Our Programs

The unique ability of SFP is helping diverse groups cross barriers of race, religion, creed, or national origin. We help communities organize meaningful service learning programs that promote local interests, build a culture of service and fulfill the President’s call to serve. SFP ensures the most efficient and effective use of volunteers through preliminary community surveys determining and prioritizing compelling community needs. SFP interviews prominent community leaders involved in education, public safety and health and human services to ensure programs are crafted to meet community wants needs.

SFP links service to education by involving secondary schools and institutions of higher education to create lasting community change and provide opportunities for intensive commitments to service that foster civic responsibility. To strengthen grass root coalitions SFP provides technical support and outcome-based evaluation measuring positive community change and helping to build capacity and sustainability. SFP continues to reach underserved populations by forming partnerships with agencies that serve such groups.

The Summer of Service

The Summer of Service is a ten to fourteen day summer day camp program designed to involve local youth in an intensive experience of service, to gain leadership skills, to give back to their community and to learn about year round volunteer opportunities in their community.

SFP RECENT PROJECT

Volunteers Use Spring Break to Spruce Up School in San Diego

Msichelle Arrollado, 14, and Sierra Pedersen, 12, knelt on a curb, rolled up their sleeves and began the tedious job of pulling weeds from an embankment. Not the typical way most students spend spring break. The girls were part of a volunteer effort Tuesday morning to restore and repair erosion on a slope between Parkway Middle School and an adjacent football field used by the school for PE classes.

The project, developed by Service For Peace, an international youth service organization, included help from more than 40 local Wal-Mart employees, community members, students and Service For Peace volunteers.

"We find a need, and we bring people together,” said David Roberts, director of Service For Peace in San Diego. “These projects break down barriers.”

Volunteers spent almost four hours pulling weeds, digging, raking and planting along more than 150 yards of embankment. The goal was to beautify the area, which has been neglected over the years, said Cyndi Sutton, principal of Parkway Middle School.

“Cities and schools are understaffed, so volunteers are out here sprucing it up,” Sutton said as she pulled weeds. “It's a wonderful cooperative.”

The football field is part of the Junior Seau Sports Complex, which also includes a soccer field and three ball fields.

It's used all day by students during school hours and by parks and recreation leagues before and after school.

Plants and tools for the project were donated by the City of La Mesa and Wal-Mart. “This is good for the community,” said Erinn Corry, an employee at the Wal-Mart in Grossmont Center. “It's a good cause.”

Not even an injury could slow down Michelle, who broke her wrist playing soccer. “This sounded like fun,” she said as she dug her fingers into the dirt, a blue cast encasing her forearm.“When we come back to school (Monday), we're going to tell all our friends, 'Yeah, we helped plant all this!”