Students at Chicago Christian High School in Palos Heights demonstrated acts of kindness to the surrounding community during their Kingdom Building Day on Friday.

The service day is held by the school every other year, and calls for the students give back to the community by visiting various local sites to help out with whatever is needed. The students this year went to 21 locations, from Frankfort to Hodgkins to Chicago.

“We do this so we can be a presence in the community and to prepare our students to help others beyond high school,” Chicago Christian Principal Bob Payne said.

Payne said the school has participated in Kingdom Building Day for more than 18 years, with the same goal of preparing the students to work for the greater good.

“Everything we do is about achievement and discipleship: achievement in getting the students ready for college, and discipleship in teaching them to find their service to help others in their lives,” he said.

The day began with an early assembly in the school auditorium. Students all wore purple shirts with “Kingdom Building Day” written in yellow across the back.

Guest speaker the Rev. Saul Ebema motivated the students during the assembly by sharing his personal journey about how kindness is a vehicle to success.

“The little things you do may not mean much to you, but it could mean the world to the people you help,” he said.

Becky Vande Kamp was one of seven alumni who returned to help out for Kingdom Building Day. She said her three kids attend the school.

“Today was a great way to get kids doing service and a way to get us out into the community,” she said. “It’s a way to show the community that we are bigger than this building and we want to have a positive influence around us.”

Vande Kamp helped clean up a forest preserve in Hodgkins. Other sites included the Palos Heights pool, where students scrubbed the pool to get it ready for the summer season, and a food depository in Alsip.

Christina Zylius, a senior, spent her day reorganizing donated items at the Pass It On thrift store in Crestwood.

“Today is important for all of us because we get to actually act on what we are learning in school and church,” she said.

[Via: The Daily Southtown]