PERRYSBURG – After a two-year hiatus, Jackets Giving Back will be back in business this year.
Jackets Giving Back is a student-driven volunteer day during which Perrysburg High School seniors spend time volunteering throughout the community.
This year’s participating organizations include the 577 Foundation, Bethany House, the Cocoon, Hospice of Northwest Ohio, the Toledo Area Humane Society, Way Library, Toledo Metroparks and Wood County Park District, among others.
Students also will spend time at each of Perrysburg’s elementary schools, the intermediate school and the maintenance department.
The district will provide the transportation of 350+ seniors to the more than 25 locations in Perrysburg, Whitehouse, Maumee, Toledo and surrounding areas.
The goal is to re-engage students into the community, announced four Jackets Giving Back leaders at the Sept. 19 board of education meeting.
Juniors Abby Frye and Alexa Shine, sophomore Brandon Williams and senior Aralyn Wise spent five minutes explaining the benefits of the program and the logistics of making the day run smoothly.
The volunteer day will be Oct. 7. Members of the Jackets Giving Back team will be recognized during halftime of that evening’s home football game against Northview.
Service helps students understand there is more in their community than what they experience in their daily lives, it exposes them to more diversity, it improves communication and critical thinking skills while taking them out of their comfort zone, and it builds relationships with people who share the cause of helping the community, according to the JGB leadership team.
T-shirts will be provided to all student volunteers thanks to a donation from New North Window and Door, Maumee.
Company representatives Larin Mainos and Pat Upthagrove were at the meeting, and accepted JGB T-shirts.
Superintendent Tom Hosler said Jackets Giving Back had been done for several years then stopped due to COVID.
“At lot of agencies weren’t able to accommodate the students back in the spring of 2020, and the year after that, there was a lot of wait and see,” he said.
Having non-seniors on the leadership team allows them to come back and help in coming years, he added.
“It’s a wonderful, wonderful project, not only for Perrysburg but for the kids … involved in it,” said board member Ray Pohlman.
He said that when the project was done pre-pandemic, he was impressed with the enthusiasm students had when they left for the day and when they came back.
Volunteer chaperones can sign up by contacting Hosler at [email protected] or 419-874-9131 ex. 2104.
