All of the students at Western Michigan Christian High School will be going to class September 3 until 12:45. Then they'll go to work. The entire student body will be going to local agencies and organizations to provide volunteer service hours for Project Serve. "This is the first year we've done a school wide service project. We just started calling local agencies in the community to inquire of any specific needs they had that a group of students could help meet." says Michael Elgersma, Spiritual Development Coordinator.

The agencies include Agape Christian Fellowship, Community EnCompass, Habitat for Humanity in Grand Haven, Mona Lake Watershed, Muskegon Christian School, Muskegon Conservation, Muskegon Rescue Mission, Muskegon State Park, North Ottawa Council On Aging in Grand Haven, City of Norton Shores, and the Salvation Army in Grand Haven and Muskegon.

"This will be hard work, and students will learn a lot about the world we live in," says Elgersma. "Some of that work will include working in an urban garden, some students will help to remove an invasive species near Muskegon Lake, others will be sorting clothing, stocking food, and doing general clean-up work, along with a lot of other work."

"The organizations seem very appreciative of the help we're offering. For example, one organization, N. Ottawa County Council on Aging put us in touch with 6 different elderly individuals in the Grand Haven/Spring Lake area that needed help with various tasks like yard clean-up after some of the summer storms, packing up boxes, cleaning windows, etc... I spoke with each of those individuals these last few days to make arrangements for the work we'll be doing and they were "over-joyed" and very appreciative of the fact that we're coming." says Elgersma.

"This is at the core of what our school is about", says Doug Doty, School Administrator, "Part of our mission is to equip students to work and serve Christ in their communities." Although this is the first time WMC has done a project like this they do have a project called Project Grace where they raise money to help purchase presents and food for families at Christmas time. They'll do that again this year and hopefully more community service projects in the future. Students will also be doing individual service projects throughout the year.

If an organization would like to be a part of WMCHS Project Serve in the future or if they have any specific needs, they can communicate those needs to Michael Egersma at 231.799.9644 and he can in-turn communicate those needs to students for their service hours.