Philly Cares Day was a very fulfilling and enriching experience. Shamil and I met up with the awesome Rotaractors from Columbia who woke up at 4:50am to travel down here to Philly to give us a hand. God bless them for that! After a crazy adventure with Septa involving trains and shuttle buses, we finally met up with Anna and her boyfriend who were kind enough to pick us up at the train station and drive us the rest of the way to the school.
Once we got to the school, we met the principal of the school, along with all the other teacher, parent and student volunteers who came out to give a hand. The principal told us a little bit about the school. It is in the process of moving its current library into a new library in the basement and converting the old library into smart classrooms. Most of the Rotaractors and some teachers were designated to work in the library where we made boxes and proceeded to pack up the shelves of books into the boxes. Outside, the rest of the volunteers worked on fixing up the gardens by pulling weeds, planting flowers, and raking up leaves.
We also had plenty of time to talk with the various other volunteers and it was so nice to get to know them. The Columbia Rotaractors are fantastic and were so fun to hang out with all day! It was a great bonding experience. Overall, the entire day was a great experience and I recommend that everyone come out and volunteer for it next year!
