By Jodi Wolfe
Staff Writer

When Pembroke Academy teacher Chris Gleason gave his students a challenge to do a community service project, juniors Jonathan Berube, Kelly Thomas and Katie Welcome met and exceeded that challenge.

SPECIAL GIFTS – Pembroke Academy juniors Kelly Thomas, 17, left; Jonathan Berube, 17, center; and Katie Welcome, 16, wrap presents for boys at the Pine Haven Boys Center for a Pembroke Academy community service project. (Courtesy Photo)

The three students spent a part of the semester volunteering their time with some of the boys at the Pine Haven Boys Center, a group home for troubled and orphaned boys ages 6 to 14. The culmination of their project was raising money to give the boys Christmas presents.

“I don’t think there is a group that quite met with the spirit of the project the way these three kids did,” Gleason said.

On Friday, Dec. 24, the group went to deliver the presents to 10 of the 18 boys who were staying at the Pine Haven Boys Center for the Christmas holiday.

“They seemed pretty excited,” said Thomas, 17, of Chichester.

The three of them helped the boys put their toys together and spent some time with them before parting.

“For the rest of the kids, we bought holiday cards and put pictures in them so all the kids really got something,” said Welcome, 16, of Chichester.

Visiting with the boys at Pine Haven throughout the semester helped the group buy presents that would mean more to them, Welcome said.

Berube and another male friend helped pick out the presents for the boys. Some of the presents included remote control cars, Legos, Hot Wheels, yo-yos and anime figures.

“They inspired me,” Berube, 17, of Pembroke, said about his project partners.

Originally, Gleason’s idea was to have the group help out younger children in the community and buy them Christmas presents by assigning needy children to homeroom classes at Pembroke Academy.

However, Berube, Thomas and Welcome worried that students wouldn’t cooperate, so the three decided to adopt the Pine Haven Boys Center and put on Christmas for them, Welcome said.

“They just really appreciated everything we did,” Thomas, said.

Welcome agreed.

“The kids really took advantage of the time spent there and they tried to do anything they could with us,” she said.

To raise money, the three students worked hard, visiting about 30 homerooms to ask for money and soliciting donations for baskets to raffle off at basketball games. They also put a donation can at Kimball’s Market and Sub Shop.

In the end, they raised $250 and the boys received $20 gifts. The remaining money was spent on wrapping paper and developing pictures of their time spent with the boys.

Even though the project is over, the group will probably go back to the center a few times to visit, said Thomas.

The students learned some lessons they didn’t expect.

“I was surprised how much the kids enjoyed us being there,” Berube said. “Every time we went there, they’d draw us a picture or just talk to us a lot.”

Sometimes the boys would ask the group to stay for dinner, Thomas said.

“I was more surprised how much I enjoyed spending time with them,” Welcome said. “I was afraid it might be awkward. They were all really polite and made us feel comfortable spending time with them.”

Welcome also learned it’s important not to jump to conclusions.

“I learned to not judge someone on their home life and to get to know them better first,” said Welcome.

The three of them put a lot of effort into the project and got a lot out of it, said Thomas.

“With these three in particular, I’m just amazed at the maturity and emotional strength,” said Gleason. “This was not an easy project to work with. I was worried they’d either end up overly attached or back out. I couldn’t be prouder.”

Other group projects included a clothing drive for Haitian residents, an outerwear drive for the homeless in Concord, cleaning up Bear Brook State Park and a food drive.

“I was surprised they all found something to do,” said Gleason. “This isn’t a very big community. That just shows we have a lot more work as people to improve the lives of others.”

He is working on putting together a fair for all 75 of his students to present their projects.

Next semester, his students could find completely different community service projects, which is rather scary, he said.

Gleason hopes a group will continue to work with Pine Haven Boys Center, he said.