While many teens grumble at the idea of spending a weekend mowing the lawn, trimming hedges or raking leavings, a group of Potomac students are soliciting extracurricular chores.
Ethan Lockshin and Sean Hess, of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac, partnered earlier this year to form Lion Laborers, a school group that rallies students to volunteer their time for community service projects.
The Lion Laborers have taken on an array of jobs that run the gamut from cleaning garages to shoveling snow. In exchange for their services, the students accept donations that are used to support St. Andrew’s sister school, Ecole Christ Roi, in Civol, Haiti.
“One hundred percent of the proceeds go toward building a better community and providing the supplies necessary to keep the school functioning,” said Lockshin, the club’s president. “We have worked over 30 hours of jobs and raised over $5,000 this year. Every single penny we raise goes toward Haiti.”
Lockshin and Hess said that there are few limits to the services that the student volunteers perform. “We apply kid-power to a variety of things, from yard work to cleaning basements to moving furniture and security for teen parties,” said Hess. “We moved an entire small business once. We love to do everything.”
Lion Laborers faculty advisor Tracey Goodrich, who teaches art and math, said the club has grown rapidly and strengthened the school’s sense of community. “I have been a teacher at St. Andrew's for 27 years and I have never seen a new club take off like this one. Their club has attracted a reliable, hard-working group of committed volunteers who have given hours of their time this year, both afterschool and on the weekends,” said Goodrich. “These students have raked, weeded, cleaned, mowed, shoveled and organized. … I am completely impressed by the leadership of Ethan and Sean.”
LOCKSHIN AND HESS created a website for the club (http://lionlabor.org/) and use Facebook and Twitter to organize and mobilize their volunteers. “We try to operate like a small business,” said Hess. “We use social media to get the word out to our friends. When we get a job, we decide what we need to do, the supplies and number of students we need, and post it on our Facebook page. Our friends let us know whether they can come.”
Lockshin said the name of the club was derived in part from the school mascot, which is a lion. “Some people think of laborer in a negative way, but we are hardworking people,” he said.
Goodrich says that the Lion Laborers’ efforts are consistent with the school’s mission. “St. Andrew's students serve,” she said. “There is a strong commitment to service through trips, special projects and the curriculum.”
It was a St. Andrew’s community service trip to Chicago, Ill., that generated the idea for the club. “I was never huge into community service until I took that trip,” said Lockshin. “[It] was eye-opening for everyone. I had one of the best times of my life. We didn’t want that to end, so we started Lion Laborers”
Both Lockshin and Hess are on the varsity lacrosse team at St. Andrew’s and say they enjoy outdoor activities. One of their challenges is creating a balance between school, extracurricular activities and their volunteer efforts.
“We’re doing college applications and exams now, but during the year … we’ve had jobs almost every weekend,” said Lockshin. “It is time consuming and we stay up late some nights.”
The students are hoping to share their community service model with other schools and are working to preserve the momentum they’ve gained this year. “We want to pass the tradition down,” said Lockshin. “After we graduate, we want this to continue forever for St. Andrew’s.”