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Dear SFS families,

As you begin to organize for 2019 we hope you will consider participating in the events below. There are many ways to support the MLK Day activities even if you are not able to attend.

Next-to-New Donation Day – Monday, January 14, 2019
Taking advantage of a long winter break to start the year with closets organized? You are invited to drop off new and almost new items, at the Lower School (from 8-9am) or the Wannan Gym on the Wisconsin Avenue campus (from 8-10am). We are looking for items you think someone else in our community might want to purchase at our sale in October – from gently used children’s books, toys and games, to clean clothing and shoes (no holes please), accessories, housewares and art, up-to-date electronics, sports equipment and more. We also welcome any sturdy paper shopping bags you may have accumulated in the past month. We hope many of you will also sign up to help us receive and sort through donated items: you can sign up here<https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0f4fa4ae2da20-2019>! If you aren’t ready for us in January, our next drop off date will be Saturday April 6. Questions: check our website<https://www.sidwell.edu/support-us/fund-a-scholar/next-to-new>, email us at next2new@sidwell.edu<mailto:next2new@sidwell.edu> or call Kathi Webb at 202-537-8109. For over twenty years the Next-to-New Sale has raised funds for student financial aid through a sale of ‘next-to-new’ items on homecoming weekend. Come join us as we begin our 2019 adventure!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service & Learning, Monday January 21 2019 – Racial Disparities in Health Care
All are invited to honor the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. at the fourth annual Sidwell Friends MLK Day of Service and Learning on Monday, January 21st, 2019, 8:30am-12pm on the Wisconsin Avenue Campus. Breakfast will be offered at 8:30 a.m. outside the Robert L. Smith Meeting Room. In the spirit of shared service and learning, we will gather in the meeting room at 9:00 a.m. for a query-based discussion to explore this year’s theme, Racial Disparities in Health Care. The discussion will be followed by service activities in the upper school dining room to benefit members of the local community (activities available for our youngest students as well as our grandparents). Concurrently we will have the opportunity for smaller group discussions in the upper school library during coffee and conversation with our speakers and community partners. At 11:30 a.m. we will return to the meeting room for a short period of reflection. More details are shared below and to help the planners we ask that you sign up here<https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0E48AFA822A64-rsvp> if you plan to participate and/or donate items for the service projects. Donated supplies may be delivered to boxes outside the libraries in all three divisions and we also have on-line options<https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/2MUJEXHP8487P/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_gm__wl> for those of you who are not on campus. If you plan to bring supplies on Monday the 21st please feel free to do so just let us know that when you signup. Questions: email parents@sidwell.edu<mailto:parents@sidwell.edu>.

PLEASE RSVP and sign up for these service events and donation drives:

Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0E48AFA822A64-rsvp

1. Casserole Bake – assemble casseroles for Central Union Mission, Martha’s Table and Bethesda Cares, community outreach programs that help to place people living unsheltered into emergency and permanent housing and help to ease the lives of those living on the streets.
2. Hygiene kits – assemble kits for S.O.M.E. (So Others Might Eat, a local organization dedicated to meeting the immediate daily needs of those they serve with food, clothing, and healthcare).
3. First aid kits – assemble kits for Mary’s Center, which provides health care, family literacy and social services to individuals whose needs too often go unmet.
4. Cold weather kits – assemble kits for Mary’s Center
5. Greeting cards – make encouraging cards for young patients at Children’s Hospital
6. Placemats – make cheerful, decorative placemats for patients at Children’s Inn, NIH
7. Decorate infant onesies for Mary’s Center
8. Health & wellness collection for older women– provide needed donations for residents of N Street Village. N Street Village helps and empowers homeless and low-income women in Washington DC to claim their highest quality of life.
9. Child/Infant supplies – support Martha’s Table with donations that provide families in need with clothing and baby supplies.

Sponsored by the SFS Parents Association and led by Parents of Black Students committee, in collaboration with Parents of Asian Students, Parents of Latino Students, Arts, Quaker Life, Community Service and Equity, Justice and Community committees.