As one of the largest groups in the school, Silver Linings is a community service club that reaches out to those in need through a diverse range of volunteer work. Since its founding, Silver Linings has participated in multiple charity events and supported several different organizations on both a local and national scale.
This past week, I had the opportunity to speak with Jaime Marcus, the club’s advisor and an English teacher here at Ardsley High School. During our conversation, he detailed the club’s plans through hybrid learning and explained why he thinks giving back to the community is so important.
To provide some background, Silver Linings initially supported and worked towards local causes in the community; they volunteered at group homes to play with disabled kids, organized can drives at local grocery stores, and arranged village clean-ups. As the club grew, it soon expanded itself to subsidizing national organizations as well, and in this way, Silver Linings has also become an immense fundraising effort. Most recently, the club raised money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (MS Society) by setting up monthly coffee shops in Mr. Marcus’ classroom and participating in the MS Bike Tour in Manhattan. Their tremendous work towards MS has even earned them two state-wide awards!
However, when the pandemic hit in early March, the club’s options were limited, and the members were forced to rethink many of their plans. Trying to stay as safe as possible, the club ultimately decided on pitching in to some of the money that they had raised for MS the previous year and using it to help first responders and local businesses.
This fall, Silver Linings developed a new idea that proves to be effective, safe, and enjoyable. Acknowledging that many students were involved in both Silver Linings and the Hiking Club, Mr. Marcus hashed the idea of joining the two clubs to create a merged fundraising campaign, and after conferring with his board members, “Adopt-A-Hiker” became Silver Linings’ latest endeavor.
Through the Adopt-A-Hiker program, the club sets up a fundraiser page and raises money through supporters who pledge a certain dollar amount for each mile that a student hikes. This money is then distributed between 3 major organizations: MS Society, Feeding Westchester, and JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).
Having gone on their first hike to Anthony’s Nose less than a month ago, Mr. Marcus proudly reports that the progress of the program has been amazing, and the club has raised nearly $1800 in just three weeks!
Furthermore, he shares that although the club is currently planning some of their future events—including a clean-up hike in February and a program hanging out with elementary school students at Concord Road—the Adopt-A-Hiker fundraising campaign is their ultimate focus at the moment. “Hiking is the one thing that we can do safely right now, so we figured it kind of checked off all of the boxes: we’re doing something outside safely and are raising money.”
The pandemic initially presented many obstacles to the club in that they could not meet and interact with community members as they typically did, but the members’ ambition and desire to serve our community in any way possible has driven them to be creative and devise several other ways of helping out. In fact, Mr. Marcus mentions that the enthusiasm he sees from his students each week is ultimately his favorite part of advising the club.
“I still clearly get involved, I make phone calls, and I’m active, but [the students] ultimately run it, and I just smile!"