Christmas in April gets a hand from Trinity-Byrnes students
Photo contributed
A team of 20 students and parents from the Trinity-Byrnes Collegiate School participated in Hartsville’s Christmas in April. This organization has been in existence since 1989 and has repaired over 750 homes in the Hartsville area. The organization’s mission is to help residents of Hartsville to stay warm, safe and dry. The annual weekend event pairs teams with selected homes to provide home repairs such as painting, roof work, wheelchair ramp construction, and window and door replacement. Christmas in April is funded through community and business donations and over 98% of funds go directly to home repairs.
The Trinity-Byrnes team split into two groups. One group, working under the guidance of the St. Luke UMC team, repaired rotten wood and painted the entire outside of an existing home, along with sprucing up two storage sheds. The second group helped to prime and paint the interior of a new construction home for Habitat for Humanity.
Team organizer Bennett Joyce, a sophomore at TBCS, says he was surprised that so many students (and parents) volunteered to give up a Saturday and to tackle a long day of hard work, but felt like everyone had a good time while helping others. The Trinity-Byrnes’ team members were not just from Hartsville; the group included students from Dillon, Florence, Lamar, Darlington, Quinby, McColl, and from two foreign countries—China and Italy.
Italian exchange student Chiara Mattimara, a senior at TBCS who is hosted by a Hartsville family, summed up her experience from Saturday’s event, “Community service has been such a fundamental part of my high school years both here and in Italy. Christmas in April made me realize that there are people less fortunate than me who can’t afford something as basic as safe housing. Helping others is satisfying because after all, it is in giving that we receive.”
Trinity-Byrnes Collegiate School is a coeducational, non-discriminatory,
college-preparatory day school serving students in grades seven through twelve located in Darlington, South Carolina.
Trinity-Byrnes fosters development of every student’s intellect and character through strong academics, a wide variety of athletics, and extra-curricular activities. For more information contact April Munn, Director of Admissions, at 843-395-9124, amunn@trinitybyrnes.org.