Columbus Academy has established a service graduation requirement to expose students to volunteer opportunities as a path to extended community service to those in need. Our Service Board provides many opportunities throughout the year to help combat poverty, hunger and homelessness, improve one's health and well-being, and protect animals and the environment.
Some of the many ongoing service projects include monthly food deliveries to Faith Mission, a winter food and clothing drive to benefit Kids 4 Kids, American Red Cross blood drives on campus, and various work with Habitat for Humanity. Our upper-schoolers also participate in an annual Service Day in September, lending a helping hand to service-based organizations across Central Ohio.
In November 2020, our Service Board reinvented the annual Kids 4 Kids Food Drive into a 2.0 version so our families could still help those in need in the surrounding communities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure health and safety protocols, drop-off boxes were placed in each classroom and advisory around campus with plenty of opportunity to donate non-perishable food items. Middle and Upper School students then sorted, packed and delivered the food in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Our student-run Service Board now has plans in place to create “Blessings/Little Pantry” boxes near campus that it will stock on a weekly basis to keep providing support to the local community year-round.
Ongoing Service Board Initiatives
Service Partnerships at Columbus Academy:
- American Red Cross
- ARC Industries
- Broad St. Food Pantry
- Childhood League Center
- Columbus Metropolitan Libraries
- Gahanna Library
- Dublin Food Pantry
- Gahanna Parks and Recreation
- GRIN (Gahanna Residents In Need)
- KIPP Academy (Knowledge Is Power Program)
- Lettuce Work
- Local Matters
- LifeCare Alliance/Meals On Wheels
- Lutheran Social Services/Faith Mission
- Habitat for Humanity - Delaware & Union Co.
- Habitat for Humanity – MidOhio
- Honor Flight Columbus
- iCan Bike - Columbus
- Mid-Ohio Foodbank
- Muscular Dystrophy Assoc. Columbus
- Neighborhood Services, Inc. Food Pantry
- New Albany Pet Rescue
- Otterbein University
- Project Linus
- Ronald McDonald House - Central Ohio
- Shepherd’s Corner
- Siebert Elementary School
- Sunrise Assisted Senior Living - Gahanna
- St. Lawrence Haven/St. Vincent dePaul
- Stratford Ecological Center
- Village Coalition Against Hunger (New Albany Food Pantry)
- WARM (Westerville Area Resource Ministry)
- Westerville Habitat Partnership
- Westerville Public Library
- Worthington Resource Pantry
- YWCA Family Center
