Each year, on Giving Tuesday, CA focuses on how we can give back to our local community by considering the ways in which we can support those who help to bolster our mission–all while doing important work in the world. After all, as our mission states, CA is more than just a school; we are a learning community—and that community extends well beyond the confines of our campus.
Our community partners are integral to nearly all aspects of the CA experience. They help with the thorny logistics of transporting students across the state, ensure that we are well-fed, and keep our campus systems humming (who doesn’t appreciate a working air conditioner?). Others help us deliver transformative and eye-opening service, entrepreneurial, and experiential learning opportunities in collaboration with those outside of our immediate community. Regardless of their contribution, we want to make sure we take time to acknowledge and appreciate our extended Charger community—those people and organizations that help not just our students and families, but those across the Triangle, thrive.
With strong leadership from our students, the past two years we hosted drives for the Diaper Bank of North Carolina and filled the youth store for Haven House in Raleigh. This year, as we celebrate Cary Academy’s 25th anniversary, we are reflecting and honoring the important role that many of our community partners—local nonprofits, vendors, businesses, sponsors, contractors, and friends—have played in making CA what we are today. As the old adage goes, it takes a village. And we are so incredibly appreciative of ours.
In collaboration with our students and the Center for Community Engagement, for Giving Tuesday this year we will be putting together grateful gathers – bags of goodies, treats, and notes of appreciation, to those who have quietly, tirelessly given their time, their services, their wares, their support – all to assist and enhance the experiences on this campus. Utilizing X-Day, students will assemble the bags, and throughout the month of December, employees and students will deliver almost 70 gifts to friends across the Triangle.
The Cary Academy experience, and particularly the work of the Center for Community Engagement, relies upon community partnerships to help make learning tangible and realistic. We could not do the work we do without the support of others. During this season of gratitude, we encourage you to reflect on those who inspire you, assist you, and help you to be the person you are—and the person you are becoming–and join us in extending an extra token of thanks to them.