May 3—On April 28, Mount Paran Christian School students and their families participated in the school's annual Family Serve Day.

The yearly tradition of serving the community benefited nearly 60 community ministry partners.

Family Serve Day is a designated day for all MPCS students, parents, teachers, and staff to join together in teams to serve others throughout the community. The school unites with families to develop servant-leaders, with the aim that service becomes a lifestyle for families at MPCS.

"I am in awe," said MPCS Assistant Director of Christian Life Jean Ann Murphy, who organized the school-wide service day. "The MPCS family served joyfully and showed our community what it looks like to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We had people in Waleska, South Atlanta, and everywhere in between. One site I visited said, 'With all the people you have here today, we are getting over 800 hours of work done. That would take us months with our own small staff.' Through Family Serve Day, we made a difference."

MPCS students in grades 3 through 12, parents, faculty and staff served off-campus together. Additionally, all students in grades PK-2 participated in on-campus projects to benefit the community.

More than 1,800 students, families, faculty and staff joined together to pack books for children in Africa, perform for and paint with assisted-living residents, make snack bags, assemble meals, construct dog leashes, do yard work and mentor children at local after-school programs.

Local real estate owner Janice Overbeck hosted one of the Family Serve Days. Overbeck has hosted this event for several years with the school. It was virtual for the past several years but luckily they were back in person this year.

Many families worked together to upcycle plastic bags into dog leashes for Cobb County Police. These leashes come in handy when police officers come across stray dogs from time to time.

The families each saved and collected their used plastic grocery bags and made numerous leashes. In upcycling these plastic bags into dog leashes, families were able to recycle plastic bags that otherwise would have gone into the trash. Upcycling is creating a better secondary use for a product than its initial intended use.

Lt. Col. Michael L. Williams came to The Janice Overbeck Real Estate Team Office in Marietta to pick up the leashes and show his gratitude to the families that made them. The recycled leashes align with the team's initiative to end the plastic crisis. The team is working towards limiting plastic usage and enjoys finding different sustainable options for items that would typically be made from petroleum-based plastics.