Global & Local Outreach
The St. John’s Parish Day School’s Mission is strengthened by our values of respect, kindness, and integrity as we strive to give our students the “tools to grow as strong independent thinkers, people of sound character and active stewards of the World.” We are committed to helping our students become confident and respectful citizens connected to our local and global communities. Our students continually build on being a kind and generous community of learners through our local and global outreach programs which instill in them the value of helping others without expecting anything in return. Listed on this page are the various ways that we support our local and global community.
Walk for Wamunyu
St. John’s annual Walk for Wamunyu to benefit our partner Kenya Connect, is completed throughout the day on a Friday at the end of January. Every year, our students at SJPDS participate in the Walk for Wamunyu, a walk-a-thon on campus to help raise money for our pen pals in Kenya, specifically the Mbaikini School and the Mbaikini Special Needs School. The funds raised by students walking/running have helped to support Kenya Connect’s new water well, as well as their library and STEM programs. Did you know that Kenya Connect opened their first community library in over 100km in 2023? The LRC Annex, which houses the library, has 53 steps. Kenya Connect painted the steps with book spines and St. John’s students were invited to choose what books should be painted on three of the steps!
The funds raised also help provide more books to the library and will provide support to run the Saturday library program. In addition, just like St. John’s, Kenya Connect is teaching students about coding and introducing them to robotics. The Walk for Wamunyu will help provide 5 Lego Education Spike kits to be used during school break STEM programs. Every step that St. John’s students take during the walk enhances enrichment programs and provides fun and interactive programs to the 18,000 students at Kenya Connect’s 62 partner public schools.
SJPDS is a proud school partner of Kenya Connect – A non-profit whose mission is to engage and empower students and teachers in rural Kenya. Through pen pal letters to Kenya and other fundraising activities, our children have seen first-hand that they can make a difference in the world. We have also sent several staff members to Wamunyu as part of the Kenya Connect Delegations in the past few years. This partnership with the Mbaikini School is a tangible display of our commitment to one of our Five Gifts: “Development of confident and respectful citizens connected to our local and global communities.”
This year, we raised over $22,000 for Kenya Connect, which has helped them to drill a water well, providing a clean and sustainable water source for the community!
Canned Food Drive for Local Food Bank
On World Kindness Day (Nov 13), our community celebrates the importance of kindness with various activities highlighting the importance and impact of kindness. Each year, our student council hosts their annual canned food drive, benefiting the Howard County Food Bank. This year, our generous community donated over 700 pounds of canned food! Students practiced the act of giving by putting their donations into the collection box themselves as they entered school. Once all donations were collected, our student council members, along with their faculty advisors, bagged up all the goods into bags to distribute to families in our community. Our teachers then delivered the goods to the Howard County Food Bank to be distributed to families in need for the winter months.
Christmas Toy Drive for Collington Square
December 6th is the Feast of St. Nicholas, a faithful follower of Christ who has come to be remembered for giving gifts as an expression of God’s love. For over 30 years, St. John’s Parish Day School families and staff have joined with St. John’s Episcopal Church and its Outreach Ministry to prepare holiday baskets for families in need of support and care. Church families donate food and household items, and school families contribute toys and children’s gifts. Each class is assigned a family or two identified through the Club at Collington Square, an after school enrichment program in Baltimore. This year, we were honored to be able to help over 20 families and bring joy through donations to so many children!
To learn more about The Club at Collington Square, visit here.
