RCA Essentials volunteer with the Home Style Meal Donation Program

What Better Way to Welcome Spring Than a Barbecue with New Friends?

When Covenant House Georgia put out the call to have groups participate in their new Home-style Meal Donation Program, the Ron Clark Academy Essentials Step Team jumped at the chance.   Covenant House is the largest childcare agency in the United States, and their mission is to provide shelter for homeless and runaway youth. 

Named to promote the qualities necessary for success, the Essentials saw this as a perfect opportunity to hang out with neighbors and give back to the community that has supported RCA since its beginning.

Step Team President Krystal Morbeth and Community Service Chair Morgan Fambro led the initiative, rallying the team and enlisting the help of our revered Essential Parents who diligently model the spirit of service that the team seeks to embody.

In the meantime, Step Mistress Kennedy Guest-Pritchett and Step Master Richard Douglas worked tirelessly with team members to shape a creative and powerful show. Determined to put their best foot forward, they spent weekends shaping a step routine that would represent the RCA spirit. 

On March 21, 2011, the Essentials took the five minute ride to the Covenant House and laid out a spread of barbecue worthy of Sunday dinner.  The food was blessed and dinner was served with a smile.  Covenant House youth shared words of wisdom and their own rap and singing skills before the step team ended the evening with intricate beats harkening the African roots of stepping.

The spirit of the evening was best captured by the impromptu football game and stepping lessons the RCA students and Covenant House youth engaged in just as dusk settled over the scene. In this moment there were no worries about homework or work shifts, just young people enjoying the best each had to offer:  community personified.

The team, coached by Susan Barnes, language arts teacher, and Junior Bernadin, technology manager, are grateful for the avid support of the Essential Parents, and thankful to Ms. Purpura of Covenant House Georgia for the opportunity.  Congratulations to the Essentials for making a difference in our community!