Community Service

The Tabor Community Service program is designed so that every student has the opportunity to volunteer locally.

We Like to Serve (it's our way!)

Our proximity to New Bedford lends itself well to community service opportunities. Beyond the twice-yearly mornings of service, students participate in local volunteer opportunities through Tabor-sponsored events as well as events in their home communities. Students are encouraged to pursue their personal passions and take the initiative to organize events for a particular cause or interest.

Community Service Student Board of Directors

Each spring, students are invited to submit an application expressing interest in serving on the student board of directors. Led by two seniors with eight other students chosen to serve based on the strength of their applications and their commitment to service, the board is advised by faculty members. Board members help to organize community days of service and respond to new areas of need raised by Tabor’s students and faculty. 

After School Program

Led by faculty members, student service outings include weekly trips to local organizations such as the Immigrant Assistance Center and YOU in New Bedford, Our Sisters' School, and Sippican Lands Trust. During the winter, Tabor students offer daily assistance at Sippican Elementary School’s homework club. Our emphasis is on students and faculty engaging in longer-term community partnerships.  

Club, Class, and Team-Based Service

Our students are eager partners in class, club, and team-based volunteer groups. Offering skill sessions to local athletes or language support to immigrants in New Bedford allows us to share our skills with others while learning more about the reality faced by members of our communities. One of our longest service student-run clubs, Tomatoes, plays music every Sunday to residents in our local nursing home. These types of collaborations allow us to learn from each other.

School-Wide Activities

Each year the full Tabor community participates in a fall and a spring morning of service. In the fall, we partner with as many as 50 different organizations to assist with a multitude of projects that support Southcoast organizations and their community outreach initiatives, ranging from environmental stewardship to youth education to food pantries.  In the spring, students and faculty partner with the Special Olympics of Massachusetts to enjoy School Day Games, a fun and inclusive day of unified sports featuring all the elements of a traditional Special Olympics event, closing ceremonies and all.

Individual Leadership in Service

A few years back, a Tabor sophomore invited fifth-graders from a New Bedford school to campus for an afternoon of hands-on marine science programming that she developed and saw through to completion. By the time she graduated she had planned an event each spring of her Tabor career, involving several other students to help. Through efforts like these, Tabor students are able to develop and put into action their goals, sometimes creating programs that can be perpetuated after they are gone, creating and executing projects that have a meaningful impact on our community and the relationships we seek to foster and maintain with local service-minded organizations.