Saturday, August 13^th was definitely a day to remember in the City of Oakland. The Ella Baker Center’s “Throw  Down for the Town” event brought over 300 volunteers to commit their time in coordinated service efforts throughout the city.

Great Oakland Public Schools was one of over twenty local organizations who “Threw  Down for the Town” and led a service project. In par with our commitment to ensuring that all Oakland kids get a high-quality education, GO hosted a renovation project at Garfield Elementary School. Throughout the morning, classrooms were cleared for teacher transitions, bulletin boards were decorated, bookshelves were indexed according to reading level, among other tasks.

Together with an enthusiastic principal and staff, volunteers were able to complete all of the projects for the day. Thanks to the hard work of over a dozen volunteers that morning, students, parents, and teachers at Garfield Elementary will walk into clean classrooms and colorful-bulletin hallways on the first day of school.

Reiterating what someone mentioned during the festival that afternoon, “Throw Down for the Town” occursonce a year, but service projects can and should be carried out every day. Let us continue to show our appreciation for Oakland by contributing our time and energy whenever possible to keep our city vibrant.

Sara is a GO Public Schools Summer Fellow.  She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, where she worked with various academic outreach programs serving youth throughout the East Bay