Parent Teacher Magazine Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools January 2014 | Page 5

Giving hands make a difference
Park Road Montessori students volunteer at local soup kitchen
Students from Park Road Montessori
School visit the Ascension Lutheran Church’s
soup kitchen each Tuesday for an 11 a.m.
shift. It is a routine the school began
about three years ago when the church
first opened its doors to those in need.
Volunteers can serve upward of nearly 200
people on any given Tuesday afternoon.
The Montessori volunteers typically
arrive early so they can help set up the
dining hall and greet guests. The kitchen
is organized in restaurant style and the
students are instructed to take menu orders,
serve and collect dishes from the tables.
“This is real-life learning for our
students,” said Caroline Miller, a parent
coordinator at the soup kitchen. “They learn
how to multi-task, start and complete a job
and it gives them a place and purpose in
society, which is empowering.”
In Christy Geiger’s class, fourth-, fifthand sixth-graders visit the soup kitchen.
Three students volunteer each week and
rotate schedules throughout the school year.
Students work with adult volunteers from the community and local
businesses. The soup kitchen can have up to 35 volunteers. They all serve in
different capacities from picking up food from local grocery chains and bakeries,
to cooking in the kitchen, or cleaning the dining hall. All food and services are
donated to the soup kitchen.
“I know what it’s like to be really hungry. It hurts,” said sixth-grader

Matthew Edwards. “If we weren’t here,
people would have to walk miles to get to
the next soup kitchen. Being here feels like
it is the right thing to do.”
The efforts of the student volunteers
haven’t gone unnoticed. The soup kitchen
manager Stu Nichols, a member of
Ascension Lutheran Church, said that people
look forward to seeing the “Montessori
students.”
“The children are on the front line. They
serve our guests and that’s the hardest
part,” said Nichols. “It takes 18 volunteers
to serve all of our tables. They are vital to
what we do. If it weren’t for our volunteers,
we would have to close tomorrow.”
The students learn a great deal from the
adult volunteers and guests as well. They
learn the importance of gratitude, serving
the local community and they get a sense of
independence. Nichols said they see another
side of Charlotte that they wouldn’t see in
their neighborhoods or community.
“When I first looked at those children three years ago, I thought it wouldn’t
work,” said Nichols. “Boy was I wrong. They’ve jumped in, been hard at work
and I’ve been completely amazed.”

- See more at: http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/News/Pages/
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