Middletown High School students in Sean Haardt’s government classes volunteered at SERRV, a non-profit organization, on Oct 29. SERRV is an organization that helps eliminate poverty by giving farmers and artists a chance to sell their creations.
The products are from artisans and farmers in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and the United States. There’s a large variety of products, and no one is told they can’t participate.
Haardt takes his classes to help them receive infused community service hours. “The infused hours help students to accomplish the necessary hours required by the county and school,” Haardt said.
MHS freshman Freddy Roberts, one of Haardt’s students, said that they “worked there and helped the third world countries” by unpacking the products.
Students unpacked several different types of products. Most of what they handled was jewelry, bowls and non-perishable food items, and each item was one-of-a-kind.
After being unpacked or assembled, the items were then sent to stores supported by SERRV to be sold.
Other students said that they greatly enjoyed the trip and thought it was a wonderful experience.
“I loved being able to hold the one-of-a-kind items,” Clara Tam, MHS freshman, said.
Several students said they agreed with Tam and enjoyed being able to be with friends and sing as they worked.
Haardt said that more and more people are hearing about SERRV, and he is happy that his six years of volunteering with students there are helping. “Quite a few times I’ve heard workers at SERRV say that Middletown’s visit is the best they’ve ever had,” Haardt added.
