Spring2ACTion with Tall Ship Providence

16 Apr Spring2ACTion with Tall Ship Providence

This week, Kathy Seifert joined Caroline to talk all about the Spring2ACTion campaign. Alexandria is full of many organizations that strive to bring beautiful and unique experiences to Alexandria and beyond. ACT for Alexandria hosts the Spring2ACTion Campaign each year for a day of philanthropic giving. Next week, April 24, 2024 marks the official day of giving, but early giving has begun. This is a day where our community comes together to support various non-profits and charities all here in Alexandria. It is going to take everyone to come together to bring our goals to life.

Who benefits when you donate to Tall Ship Providence?

Here at the Senator John Warner Maritime Heritage Center, we bring history to life. Our Dockside Tours transport visitors back to 1776 and into the Continental Navy. The experiences that our tour guides foster provide hands-on learning and a context to history that is hard to teach in a classroom. Providence herself is a floating classroom. Thanks to a generous gift from HII, we created a program especially designed for 4th grade students to learn about the American Revolution. We want every 4th grader in Alexandria and the region to come aboard our ship as they learn about the American Revolution, but not every school has the funding to get here to Alexandria.

To address this gap in accessibility to Tall Ship Providence, we are introducing our new philanthropic initiative: the Field Trip Program. The Field Trip Program will provide all 4th grade students in the region the opportunity to visit Tall Ship Providence with the entire trip paid for, including transportation. Our initial focus is Title 1 schools, followed by all local public elementary schools. All students deserve the opportunity to make learning fun as they enhance their understanding of history, STEM, and more through their hands on, interactive journey back in time.

What is our Spring2Action Goal?

Our immediate goal is to raise enough money through Spring2ACTion to bring a minimum of 1,000 Title 1 students to Tall Ship Providence. Including transportation, it costs about $42 to bring one student to the Senator John Warner Maritime Heritage Center – bringing our total goal to $42,000. It is going to take a community effort. $85 brings 2 students on board. $250 will bring 6 students – a quarter of a class. $500 will bring aboard half a class size. $1,000 will invite an entire classroom onboard.

Why donate?

Every time we welcome a school group to Tall Ship Providence, there is energy in the air. With the inquisitive nature of the kids, the delight on their faces, and the questions they ask, it is wonderful to see these students get excited about learning.

I remember one of the students as our first class was leaving turned around and ran back up the gangway. She looked at me and with just a few words made me feel like I had really made a lasting impact on this young girl. She told me that she had never felt like history made sense and she didn’t know why they were learning about the Revolutionary War in school, but now she did. And that she was going to go home and tell her little brother everything she learned. I know that as time goes on, and more kids come to the ship, there will be hundreds like that little girl who have a renewed love of learning.

Donate to Spring2ACTion

Instead of going out to lunch, you could bring a treasured memory to a student in need. Rather than going to that concert, teach a valuable skill to a local 4th grader on Tall Ship Providence. Then, share this short post with your friends and family and tell your friends about your donation. Encourage them to do the same if they are able. You are the first link in the chain to make a big difference to the schools of Alexandria and beyond.