Independence has a lot of different opportunities for students to rack up volunteer hours, or just to help out. Indy Serves is one of many clubs that provides chances to get involved with the community. Recently, on February 11, they went to Washington in order to help out the homeless.
Washington is approximately 40 minutes away from Ashburn, so the Indy students teamed up with students from nearby Briar Woods High School to make the trip.
“We took the D.C. metro, and it was really fun because we partnered with Briar [Briar Woods], so there was a bunch of people we didn’t even know. So, when we were stuck for like an hour we just talked to a bunch of different people,” said Ninh Nguyen (11), a member of Indy Serves.
Despite the long ride, knowing that they were making an impact, makes it all worth it. When planning ahead, there were multiple ways in which Indy Serves prepared .
“For months before, we’ve been collecting winter jackets, coats, backpacks, and then the day of, people went out to the store to buy water bottles and prepackaged snacks. Then we brought tote bags and luggages so it was easier for them to move around,” Nguyen added.
There are approximately 5,000 homeless people in Washington, and Indy Serves did their best to get to as many people as they possibly could.
“We served about 30, and then some people changed their outfits and went back through the line again and got more stuff, but since we had so much food, especially with Briar too, we didn’t bother saying no to them.” Nguyen said.
Doing something like this not only physically helps, and gets students involved, but it also has sentimental value. Many students that went on this trip had a different perspective and experience.
“So it’s actually an annual trip that Indy Serves has been doing, it’s just community service, and we went this year to continue the tradition,” Nguyen added.
Indy Serves is a big club, but it’s always welcoming new members.
“I joined Indy Serves this year by showing up to the interest meeting, but they love having new members so if you just start showing up to the meetings, they’ll accept you right away,” said Indy student Sabina Borjes (11).
Joining this club gives a strong sense of community and friendship, but a main concern is most likely how to get volunteer hours from the club and how to log them.
“For my volunteer hours, once I’m done with it, I’ll quickly write it down in my notes app so I don’t forget. Then, when I get home, I’ll just then go to SchooLinks in LCPS go in the volunteer hour section and log it there, and once it’s accepted by the leader you’re pretty much good to go,” Borjes said.
In short, Indy Serves is a great way to get involved in not only the school, but the world as well, and one of the many ways that this is demonstrated is through this trip.
“I’m always excited for this trip, it’s one of our largest trips as far as participants and we had a total of 35 students. We were there for about an hour and a half,” said Dr. VonEnde Coleman, teacher at Indy and Indy Serves sponsor.
Of course, this isn’t the last thing that Indy Serves will be doing this year, and there’s many more things planned.
“We are going to the animal shelter, however they’re only taking 10 and the club has about 100 students, so if you’re talking about something exciting that’s going to be exciting to see,” Dr. Coleman said.
