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The Coppell Community Gardens is one of Coppell’s most beautiful and unknown assets, up-kept by the few dozen of dedicated volunteers who wake each Saturday morning to prepare the fruits of their labor for pick-up by the Metrocrest Foodbank.

Harvesting, weighing and bagging the produce, tilling soil, mulching, turning compost and fertilizing and watering plots only names a fraction of what it takes to create over 1,642 pounds of edible produce in one winter month.

Coppell has two of these volunteer-run gardens, the Helping Hands garden beside Town Center and the Ground Delivery garden beside the Post Office. Both offer a serene environment for those who pass through as well as for those, young and old, experienced and new, who tend to their plots.

Founded in 1998, the Gardens have since grown to be an integral part of the community, providing a hobby, knowledge and service opportunity for students all community members and even volunteers from surrounding neighborhoods.

“We enjoy watching things grow,” garden leader Julia Daly said. “It’s a secret thrill watching things grow from a seed, and I really like the idea of being able to help someone else in a way that’s enjoyable to me, doing something productive, with my own hands versus giving money to a charity.”

Daly and her husband, Pat Daly, have been regulars at the Ground Delivery since 2003, when they were inspired to join after having seen they garden from their home. The Dalys are the prime example of a family who found personal benefits in this hobby while helping others.

“The gardens teach us to respect the environment and each other,” Julia said. “They provide nutritious options for those that may not have that opportunity due to their financial constraints. In Coppell, it’s a good way for our neighbors to get together and have more sense of community.”

Coppell High School students have also experienced the relaxing and philanthropic nature of the garden. Senior Anna Samczuk began volunteering after her brother suggested it as a way to get back in touch with herself and meet new people.

“I was always a shy person, and I needed a way to put myself outside of my comfort zone,” Samczuk said. “It provides relaxation for me and I’ve realized the importance of cultivating nature and helping others.”

Coppellians visit the Gardens for an escape from busy lives. The physical labor the plots require helps to relieve stresses and tensions, and the quiet atmosphere provides the ideal environment for meditation while tending to plants.

“It’s not a stressful place,” Samczuk said. Sometimes it seems like I’m not in Coppell, like it’s another bubble. Though getting dirt under your nails isn’t therapeutic, hard work there is mentally therapeutic. It’s just something good to be a part of.”

Other students at Coppell High School have found ways to volunteer at the Gardens through clubs such as Interact Club.

“As a community service project, we went during the summer months,” senior Interact treasurer Uzomaka Onyejiaka said. “We carried large amounts of compost and shoveled it into wheelbarrows – moving the soil was really hard, so it was a difficult job. But it was fun, and we knew it wasn’t a waste of time because we knew we were doing a good service.”

Whether you’re looking for a place to relax, get dirty or just get more involved with the community, Coppell’s Community Gardens will provide. For more information on the Gardens, visit coppellcommunitygarden.org.

Halfway around the world, a little boy named Humphrey has the hope of a better life, thanks to Coppell High School’s Hope for Africa club.

The club partnered with the Touch a Life Foundation, a Dallas-based organization, to sponsor 10-year-old Humphrey. Like many other children in the Lake Volta region of Ghana, West Africa, Humphrey had been sold into slavery by his family, said Hannah Yates, a senior and co-president of the club.

The Hope for Africa club lined the school hallways with posters urging students to support Humphrey. Photo by Lauren Ussery.

“When Touch a Life found him, he had a really bad case of malaria,” Yates said, noting that it was a particularly severe case. “If Touch a Life hadn’t found him, he probably would’ve died within a week.”

Though it is hard to imagine a family selling their own child into slavery, the root of the problem lies within the extreme poverty of the region, said Rachel Johnson, Director of Project Development at Touch A Life Foundation

“The biggest challenge, then, is addressing the issue of poverty and slowly attempting to work with locals to reinvent their economic systems and business strategies,” Johnson said. “Providing job opportunities will reduce the number of people who believe buying children to work for them is necessary and acceptable.”

Humphrey was rescued a year ago and lives in a small village called the Village of Hope with about 60 other kids, Yates said.

“It’s not what we’re used to with luxury and everything,” Yates said, “but he has school, he’s got a bed, he’s provided with food and shelter every day, it’s a much safer life, and he has medications now and everything.” She added that the club plans to soon discuss writing letters to Humphrey.

“All children are equal and if we had the resources and manpower, we would love to scoop them all up at once,” Johnson said. She said the rescues depend on the relationship our Ghanaian staff members have with the slave master with whom they are negotiating, explaining that if the slave master wants to release a child, he will; if he doesn’t, he won’t.

“Hope for Africa at Coppell High is doing an amazing job of raising awareness of modern-day slavery,” Johnson said. “Many people do not know that trafficking is something that is occurring throughout the world. Thanks to the members of Hope for Africa, people are becoming informed and educated on this topic. The members are also raising funds for Touch A Life, which is hugely helpful in allowing us to continue providing the best lives possible for the children in our care.”

With the club’s fundraiser to sell Hope for Africa buttons, it has managed to raise almost enough money to support Humphrey for the next year.

“The cost to provide for Humphrey’s basic expenses for about a year is approximately $1,800,” Yates said. “At this point, we have about $1,300, so we only need $500 more.”

CHS is not the only school getting involved with the aid towards Africa. New Tech High @ Coppell has recently started a Hope for Africa club.

“With our club sponsor, Micah Hamner, coming from CHS, we were able to take the history of the club and form our own,” Jessica Berdan, president of New Tech’s Hope for Africa club, said. “We didn’t really have any connection with the club at CHS or get involved with them as much as we would have liked in the previous years, but this year we would love to get them involved in some of our activities.”

Berdan explained that, although the school is not sponsoring a child, the money raised at New Tech will go towards the Touch a Life Foundation as well.  

High school students can make a difference by incorporating service into their daily activities, said Johnson.  Johnson suggested such ideas as distributing informational flyers while grabbing a latte at the coffee shop, asking for donations in lieu of traditional birthday gifts, and even donating the proceeds of a football, basketball, or baseball game to the foundation of their choice.

“It’s all about being creative and maintaining a mindset of service when going about daily routines and activities,” Johnson said.

Though Humphrey is just one child of thousands in Ghana who are living in bondage, Johnson believes even one life can make a difference.

“We have seen that helping just one child will empower him or her to rise up and make a difference in his or her community,” she said. “Through rescue, rehabilitation, and education, children are equipped with the tools to make a difference in their hometowns.”

The spring blood drive is next month, April 8. NHS members are to check Blackboard for updates and shadowing sign-up will be at the next NHS meeting, April 1st. Volunteers will be working sign-up tables during lunch the weeks after Spring Break.

Friday, April 23 from 5-9 pm is Denton Creek Elm.’s Sping Fling. Volunteers will be able to earn tickets for the carnival along with group hours when volunteering for this event.

Relay for Life, the first weekend in May, needs volunteers. Members can contact relayforlifecoppellvolunteers@gmail.com for more information and sign-up for a maximun of six group hours.

Remember that extra group hours can roll over to become individual hours, although individual hours can not count as group hours. Seniors need 15 group and 10 individual hours; juniors need 10 of each; and sophomore need 5 group and 10 individual hours. And don’t forget to pay dues -$10 in a sealed envelope with your name, ID number, 1st or 7th period class dropped into the NHS library box. The last NHS meeting was March 4th; upcoming meeting is April 1st.

Senior dual-credit students focusing on lecture in Amy Smith's Government 2301 class

Signing up for dual credit, most seniors did not realize the workload that came along with a more flexible schedule, and many Government 2301 students have embarked on a project that takes many hours of outside class work to complete.

“I have been using service learning as an ancillary part of my courses for about four years now,” North Lake College Government professor Amy Smith said. “This year is the first year it became mandatory.”

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are setting a goal to ensure that all middle and high school students must complete 50 hours of community service a year. A new tax credit, worth $4,000 in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year, will be established.

“I’m not so sure about Obama’s idea of service learning,” senior Sarah Huffman said. “The students who need financial aid the most are the ones who will be working full-time. How are students expected to excel academically, hold a job, and now do all these hours of community service? There are only 24 hours in a day.”

Obama and Biden hope to build national guidelines for service-learning, giving schools the ability to better develop programs for community action and get students directly involved and aware of the world they live in.

“I think the concept is good in theory,” senior Shaelyn Macedonio said. “Through volunteering for an organization called Project Graduation at North Lake, I’m beginning see the importance of dedicating myself to serving my community. As teenagers, it is important for us to learn the value of this commitment early on in life.”

Seniors enrolled in dual credit are required to complete 20 hours of service learning over the course of the semester. It is their responsibility to get in touch with one of the agencies which has been approved by their professor in order to get started. From there, they must attend orientation and schedule hours of volunteer work, which will be recorded on a time sheet. These hours are due to the North Lake Community College by Dec. 1 in order to receive credit.

“A lot of students have work after school around dual credit and it is very difficult to schedule in extra hours for service learning,” Huffman said. “It would have been really helpful if someone warned us over the summer that we would be expected to undertake such a big project. That way, we would have more time rather than rushing last minute to get hours.”

The Service Learning program is a chance for students to participate in organized service experiences that meet community needs, fusing education with direct community service.

“Service learning has great potential,” Smith said. “It is my intention to see students, especially my dual credit students, see how others live and have them exposed to diversity. Unfortunately, most dual credit students view this project as a burden rather than a great opportunity to grow.”

At the end of the semester, Government 2301 students are expected to present a proposal they have created for a plan of political action dealing with the branch which they volunteered in. The purpose of this project is to take class knowledge and apply it to real world situations.

“It has been very busy thus far, but I am excited to see how the experience shapes up when everything is all said and done,” Macedonio said.

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