On Friday, April 23, Mount Paran Christian School middle and high school students and their families participated in the school’s annual Family Serve Day. The yearly tradition of serving the community benefited 22 community ministry partners.
Family Serve Day is a designated day where all MPCS students, parents, teachers, and staff join together in teams to serve others throughout the community. The school unites with families to develop servant-leaders, with the aim that service becomes a lifestyle for families at MPCS.
This year’s event was a return to in-person volunteer service, after Family Serve Day was put on hold in 2020 due to the pandemic. Each location worked to ensure that participants would be properly physically-distanced and wearing masks during their service time.
MPCS Lower School Teacher Claire Mozley spearheaded the school wide service day. “The planning for this day goes on for six months,” she says. “It is hard and a lot of work, but we believe in this day in the life of our school, and we make it a priority. It’s all worth it.” When Mrs. Mozley began calling the ministry partner service sites in January, she was encouraged to learn that groups were welcoming volunteers back to in-person service. “The [ministry sites] couldn’t wait for us to serve them again in person,” she says.
MPCS families were eager to engage in service as well. When the online registration system opened to families and students, the school found 75-percent of the volunteer slots were filled in just 48 hours. In all, more than 850 MPCS students, parents, faculty, and staff served together.
Virtual service opportunities were also offered for students who had chosen to do school virtually this year. Virtual opportunities included hand-crafting dog leashes out of plastic bags to assist Marietta and Cobb County Police Officers on stray animal calls, as well as baking casseroles to benefit Calvary Children’s Home.
The 2021 MPCS Family Serve Day ministry partner sites included Action Ministries-Hope Atlanta, Bartow Family Resource Center, Blue Skies Ministries, Calvary Children’s Home, Camp Gideon, City View Elementary, Cobb Street Ministries, The Extension Center for Women, Feed My Lambs – Austell, Gaines Park Assisted Living, Good Neighbor Homeless Shelter, Good Samaritan Health Center, GRACEPOINT School, JO Gives – The Overbeck Team, MPCS Campus Clean Up, Keep Cobb Beautiful (Stanley Road), MUST Ministries, Safe Path, The Salvation Army, Simple Needs GA, The Table on Delk, Thankful Baptist Church, and Walton Adventure Centers, a Ministry of Mission 1:27.
Onsite service projects ranged from outdoor landscaping and cleanup to assembling hygiene kits or organizing food pantries and clothes closets. Students made blankets for MUST Ministries, did yard work for The Salvation Army, prepared meals and did facility maintenance at the Table on Delk, and offered live musical performances for assisted living residents at Gaines Park. Students wrote more than 70 letters for first responders and took treats to local fire and police stations.
“Our school believes in serving, and we live it out,” says Mrs. Mozley. “Watching dads and sons play together with children in an afterschool program and watching moms and daughters pack relief boxes of food together is just a glimpse into the activities that went on during the day.”
Assistant Head of School for Christian Life Steve Kyle shared his experience at this year’s Family Serve Day event, stating, “As I travelled around site to site, I had the privilege to see and work alongside so many of our amazing students and families. Whether it was pulling weeds, making bracelets, or writing letters, I saw our families be the hands and feet of Christ living out 1 John 3:18 by loving others, not just in words, but in action.”
The MPCS lower school participated in its Family Serve Day on March 5, assembling 240 Easter baskets and collecting more than 400 boxes of cereal, both to benefit the Marietta Food Pantry.
About Mount Paran Christian School
Mount Paran Christian School, the largest private Christian school in Cobb County, is a non-denominational, college-preparatory school for students in preschool age three through grade 12. MPCS is committed to excellence in academics, award-winning arts, and championship athletics, all within a Christian environment with small class sizes. Founded in 1976, MPCS is fully accredited (SAIS/AdvancED) and located near Kennesaw Mountain on a 68-acre collegiate-like campus. Providing academic excellence in a Christ-centered environment, MPCS unites with home and church to prepare servant-leaders to honor God, love others, and walk in truth.
