Don’t you just love, love? Some people absolutely adore it, others absolutely abhor it, but no matter which side you stand, Valentine’s Day will always be the day of love.
The SIS Club was created in order to build relationships between the freshmen and senior girls. These relationships are meant to provide the freshmen girls with mentors, confidants and friendly faces, as they transition into high school. The SIS relationships are built on values such as loving one another and building each other up, both of which proved to be very useful during their time at Rivertree.
The SIS Club at All Saints’ Episcopal School loaded up all their love, books and big-lil pairs and headed over to Rivertree Academy for a Valentine’s celebration that they will not soon forget. If you aren’t familiar with Rivertree Academy, it is a private Christian school in the Lake Como neighborhood, with a vision statement focused on ending the cycle of poverty by educating their students to “learn well, love well, work well and lead well.” When the girls arrived at Rivertree, they quickly got to work transforming the cafeteria. Balloons, hearts, funky glasses, cookies and more, were scattered about the room, creating the perfect atmosphere for a Valentine’s Day celebration.
Each big-lil pair was assigned one to two Rivertree students for the event. Their mission for the day was to make the kids know how truly special they are. The events for the day included a Valentine’s monster bean-bag toss, heart decorating, a cookie station, a Valentine accessory station (heart glasses, themed stickers, etc.), jump rope, football, basketball and playground games. The abundance of smiles and laughter, followed by sighs of sadness once they realized the fun was coming to an end, confirmed that the day was a success.
The SIS Club members had spent the previous month collecting children’s books to give each Rivertree student on their visit. The children grinned from ear to ear when they realized the books were theirs to take home. After saying goodbyes, the kids lined up in their rows and recited the Rivertree chant, and one by one, every heart melted at the sound of their precious voices. After everything was cleaned up, the girls loaded the buses and returned to Saints Circle to finish out the school day.
Valentine’s Day is the day of love, but love is a universal language that can mean different things to different people. Love goes beyond romantic love. Love can be a mutual respect between two lifelong friends, or simply an adoration for someone you’ve only just met. No matter what the case may be, everyone can agree it feels good to be loved. The SIS organization chose to have their community service project on Valentine’s Day for this very reason.
“I love Valentine’s Day because it doesn’t just have to be about romantic relationships,” noted Lizzie Bruhl ’20. “It can be about spreading love and positivity throughout your community! I love that I got to spend the day with my big sis while also making new friends and serving others.”
Next year you might just look at Valentine’s Day through a different lens, focusing less on romance and more on a variety of relationships, both old and new. In adjusting your lens, Valentine’s Day just might mean something completely different from now on. After all, a little love goes a long way.
