Decorate the Pleasantville Cottage School

On Saturday, December 5, 2009, Pace University students from the Honors College as well as those recruited by the Center for Community Action and Research, traveled to the Pleasantville Cottage School (PCS) to volunteer. The goal of the day was to help the youth of the PCS decorate their cottages in time for the holiday season. Pleasantville Cottage School is a residential treatment facility for children with emotional and behavioral problems. More often than not, these children come from homes and situations where they were unwanted and their problems did not receive proper attention and help. Our mission was to spend some needed quality time with the children and teens, as we helped them create the holiday aura in their cottages.
             Pace students helped to decorate four cottages. Everyone had a hand in how the cottages were decorated. Pace students helped the children wrap doors and cabinets to resemble gifts. We also hung stockings, window stickers, and ribbons and made signs to hang up. Students displayed their artistic sides during this event as one cottage made a fireplace together. We also decorated and hung stockings with the names of the children in each cottage. We spent about two hours at the PCS and it was definitely a fulfilling experience.
              Although most of us only volunteer a few times a year, our presence means a lot to the populations we serve. I strongly feel that participating in this year’s Holiday Decorating service event, encouraged some students to become more involved in service projects. If nothing else, we definitely helped to bring some holiday cheer to the residents of the Pleasantville Cottage School.