December 2, 2025
Service is a core value at BASIS Independent Brooklyn. We regularly ask our community to contribute positively, not just to our school but also to the broader community with acts of service. Faculty and administration encourage students to ask how they can help and to seek opportunities to provide needed support in age-appropriate ways. They also challenge our older students to lead with action and purpose, to advocate for and strengthen our community.
Right before Thanksgiving Break, our entire High School participated in the 5th Annual Day of Service, working with five local non-profits the morning of Tuesday, November 25th. Students were given options of service projects to participate in, and this Giving Tuesday, we wanted to feature the organizations that partnered with us on that day, as well as in recent programs and drives. Each organization’s website is linked below to make it easy to find out more about their great work and donate directly to them.
DAY OF SERVICE PARTNERS
- High School students traveled to our Lower School campus, held discussions with our youngest Cubs about the importance of service, and assembled 70 toiletry kits for recently unhoused seniors now in one of JASA’s assisted living centers.
- Our students painted three signs, refilled the bases of educational signs, and set up holiday decorations aboard the Mary A. Whelan ship, a model for NYC’s waterfront future via advocacy and direct service.
- Our students collected 100 bags of leaves and litter at Coffey Park in Red Hook.
- Our students walked dogs housed at the Sean Casey Animal Rescue. They spent the morning learning about the Sean Casey Animal Rescue, which is an animal-welfare group that finds homes for dogs, cats, birds, and rabbits based nearby in Brooklyn.
- Students assisted teachers and administrators with tasks to organize and beautify our school, and students wrote more than 75 cards for Letters Against Isolation to send to seniors for encouragement and support.
ONGOING SERVICE PROGRAM + DRIVES
- Currently, two High School students volunteer to teach weekly guitar and chess with the inspiring students at Red Hook Art Project. We have had an amazing partnership through the years that has involved specific drives as well as homework help.
- Our National Honor Society recently collected hundreds of donations for RHAP’s Thanksgiving Food Drive and direct donations to their catered meal fund.
- High School Students in our National Honor Society recently held a session to write birthday cards in several languages for homebound seniors brought together through this fantastic organization, focused on building community among seniors across New York City.
- Before Thanksgiving Break, students in Gr. 3-5 made more than 300 cards for Heights and Hills to include in the Thanksgiving meals they delivered to homebound seniors across Brooklyn.
- Our High School students regularly volunteer at the weekend Food Pantry, which serves 350 people weekly from Gowanus/Park Slope/Sunset Park. The number of families has grown substantially this year.
- BASIS Independent Brooklyn families raised $450 for the Camp Friendship School Supply Drive this summer.
- Our Toy Drive is now underway for The Alex House Project, which empowers young parents in Brooklyn with resources, support, and housing solutions. Deadline for donations is December 10th. Please consider supporting this effort. Toys can be dropped off at the Front Office of either campus.
- One of our Gr. 11 students worked with Mandarin teachers across Gr. 1-11 to decorate more than 400 bags for Heart of Dinner’s meal delivery to Asian seniors in NYC during the Thanksgiving season.
On top of these programs, our National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society members volunteer hundreds of hours at various organizations each semester. We are proud of the students we educate at our school, and they give us hope for the future. Cultivating a core value of service is an important part of education, and we are proud to play our part in giving back to underserved communities right around our school as well as in the broader New York City area.
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BASIS Independent Brooklyn is a PreK–Grade 12 private school, providing students with an internationally benchmarked liberal arts and sciences curriculum, with advanced STEM offerings. Considering joining the Bears community? To join our interest list for the next school year and receive admissions updates and more, please click here.
