Students Join Four Seasons Town Centre to Spread the Spirit of Giving
Posted: 12-05-2008 : GREENSBORO, N.C.

Greensboro, NC – Four Seasons Town Centre is enlisting the help of Guilford County Schools (GCS) to spread the spirit of giving throughout the Triad this holiday season. Using its character education partnership as a platform to teach students the principles of giving, kindness and compassion, the mall is donating more than $4,000 to aid in the formation of “Giving Teams” in schools throughout the district.

“Four Seasons Town Centre is giving our students a wonderful opportunity to put what they learn in the classroom in action,” said Vernice Thomas, GCS’ supervisor of the Safe and Drug Free Schools program. “We’re grateful for this chance to have our students give back to the community. This is a great example of how business/school partnerships work.”

In November, Four Seasons Town Centre and GCS announced a formal partnership to help raise awareness and involvement in the district’s character education initiative. According to Four Seasons Senior General Manager David Huesser, the Giving Teams Project marks the first step in helping the students put their classroom lessons into action by giving back to the community. “The Giving Teams give students the opportunity to develop projects that can have a positive impact on the local community,” said Huesser. “The mall is committed to spreading the spirit of giving this year and with the help of each Giving Team, we’re hoping to help thousands of individuals throughout the Triad.”

Each team submitted an application to Four Seasons Town Centre and was selected based on the creativity, community impact, spirit of giving and timing of the proposed project. In all, 21 teams were selected, representing 15 schools in the district. The teams received $200 in seed money from Four Seasons Town Centre during a presentation Monday night.

Each Giving Team and project is listed below:

The Academy at Smith, 10th through 12th Grade
The team will be donating toys for children from Pathway’s of Greensboro, in addition to teddy bears for children in the pediatric ward in Moses Cone Health System.

Aycock Middle, Sixth through Eighth Grade
The team will be serving holiday dinners at the Community Center at Claremont. The dinners will also include presentations on parenting tips, gang prevention and conflict resolution.

Aycock Middle, Sixth Grade
The team will be designing holiday cards for soldiers and the imprisoned. The team will also coordinate game time and gift giving with a local nursing home and foster children’s home society.

Brown Summit Middle, Eighth Grade
The team will make friendship bracelets to sell during lunchtime at school to build their seed money fund. Proceeds from the bracelets and seed fund will go toward adopting a family-in-need for the holidays.

Brown Summit Middle, Sixth through Eighth Grade
The team will provide hospital pediatric wards with new toys. The toys will be collected through a toy drive at the school and through purchase.

Ferndale Middle, Sixth through Eighth Grade
The team will be donating time to making arts, crafts and bingo games, along with baked goods, to two local rest homes. In addition, the team plans to collect toys for underprivileged children in the community.

Grimsley High, Ninth through 12th Grade
The team will consist of student council members who will provide senior citizens with personal and household items during the holidays.

Guilford Middle, Seventh Grade Chorus
The team will consist of chorus members who will perform holiday music for Friend’s Homes. In addition, the team will provide holiday stockings and cards to nursing home residents.

Hairston Middle, Sixth through Eighth Grade
The team plans to distribute stockings to the local community that include coupon services designed by the students. The services will include babysitting, tutoring and mentoring. The stockings will also include grocery and gas cards, toys and school supplies.

Kiser Middle, Eighth Grade National Junior Honor Society
The team will donate items to the Child Life Department at Brenner Children’s Hospital. The donated items will include toiletries, journals and phone cards to families of ill children.

The Middle College at Bennett, Community Service Club
The team plans to sponsor at least 50 elementary school children in the Triad by donating a box of toys and activity games during the holidays.

Northeast High, Student Council
The team will conduct a canned food drive to benefit students-in-need during the two weeks school is not in session.

Northeast High, 12th Grade
The team will visit a nursing home or children’s hospital in the Triad to provide holiday stockings and spread the holiday spirit.

Northwest High, Red Cross Club
The team plans to create skits, activities and demonstrations targeting elementary students in an effort to educate them about safety and preparedness.

Northeast Middle, Eighth Grade
The team plans to visit local nursing homes to decorate doors for the holiday and to deliver holiday greeting cards.

Penn-Griffin School for the Arts, Seventh and Eighth Grade
The team plans to encourage literacy and coordinate reading and sing-alongs for pre-schoolers, in addition to providing books to parents to encourage at-home-reading.

Southeast Middle, Students Against Violence Everywhere
The team will show appreciation for the Visiting International Faculty program by providing gift bags and festive activities for educators who are away from home during the holidays.

Southeast Middle, Seventh Grade
The team will provide cheer to holiday shoppers at Four Seasons Town Centre by providing hot chocolate and water to customers and by singing Christmas carols.

Southeast Middle Cheerleaders
The team will distribute gloves, scarves and hats to members of the Grace Community Church and will collect blankets and coats for the homeless.

Southeast Middle, Campus Life
The team has three components of its project, including overseeing a school-wide canned food drive for the Greensboro Urban Ministry; preparing gift bags for the Clapps Nursing Home in Pleasant Garden; and sponsoring an orphan through World Vision.

Andrews High, Students Taking Action Today/Red Cross Youth The team will work with the Trees for Troops program to donate trees to military families during the holidays.

About Guilford County Schools
Guilford County Schools is the third largest school district in North Carolina serving more than 71,000 students at 120 schools. With approximately 10,000 employees, the district’s mission is to graduate responsible citizens prepared to succeed in higher education or the career of their choice.

Guilford County Schools is a national leader in providing specialized schools and instructional programs designed to meet the educational needs of a culturally diverse citizenship. For more information, visit the district’s Web site at www.gcsnc.com.