Blanketing the town with warmth and kindness is right in line with the mission of South Miami Middle Community School’s “Power of One Club.” Under the direction of faculty member Robert Rabelo, students have again collected more than 100 new blankets for the homeless in the City of South Miami, putting the needs of others before their own, during the 2nd Annual “Blankets for the Homeless” event, Feb. 10.
This worthy program serves multiple objectives including demonstrating to teens that they truly can make a difference in their community by helping the less fortunate. It also fosters a sense of “neighbors taking care of neighbors,” even for the many homeless who may be hidden from our sight, but still are in great need of assistance. In addition, the Blankets for the Homeless program serves to improve relations between students, the South Miami Police Department, and the citizens they serve and protect. It allows for everyone to witness community policing at its best.
Here’s how the program works: After securing 100 new blankets for the homeless, the students package up each individual blanket using a brown-paper grocery bags donated by Winn-Dixie. Next, Chief Rene Landa and members of the South Miami Police Department, the club’s partners in “Making a Difference” within our community, visit the school. The chief addresses the students, explaining how simple acts of kindness can and do make a huge difference in the lives of people living on the streets. And then everyone rolls into action.
Following Chief Landa’s remarks, the students begin loading the 100 bags into the trunks of waiting police cars so that officers may immediately start blanketing the community with kindness. Over the next few weeks, while patrolling the streets of South Miami, when they spot a homeless individual, they will pull their cruisers over, open the trunk, and hand out a clean warm blanket – which means so much on a cold night.
This considerate contact with the silent members of our community speaks volumes about the spirit of human kindness and, more importantly, it underscores the fact that we all have “The Power of One” to make a difference in our community and in the lives of others.
The Power of One’s next act of kindness will be to sponsor 75 deserving students in the 2nd Annual “Step It Up” shoe drive. South Miami Middle Community School and the South Miami Police Department plan to visit a neighboring elementary and deliver 75 new pairs of sneakers. For information on how to join in this venture, please contact Mr. Robert Rabelo at rrabelo@dadeschools.net. Together, we can all “Make a Difference!”
