Community Service at TMS
Service to the TMS community is built into the day through authentic, hands-on service to the immediate classroom community from preparing and serving snacks in Children’s House to setting tables and cleaning up from lunch in Elementary. External community service projects, including coordinated efforts annually on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, are geared towards TMS families and as much as possible involve children of all ages, taking into account their developmental interests.
Guiding Principles for Service
TMS prepares children to be Leaders of the future, Stewards of the earth and Ambassadors of peace, and all students are part of an active community that encourages leadership, stewardship and peacemaking.
Projects & Supported Organizations
Little Free Library
Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that promotes neighborhood book exchanges. More than 90,000 public book exchanges are registered with this organization and branded as Little Free Libraries, and TMS is proud to announce that it, too, has joined the program! A public bookcase has been set up near the front door. Come and explore our books!
Family Promise Montco PA
The TMS parent engagement group coordinated a food cupboard collection in November 2021 for Family Promise Montco PA (formerly Inter-Faith Housing Alliance) in Ambler. Canned goods, products for babies and children, as well as household items, were collected and delivered in time for Thanksgiving.
MLK Day Outreach and Service Projects
During Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 2017, items for care packages for the homeless were collected and assembled by school families for delivery to a church in Doylestown for distribution. Organizations we have coordinated with more recently include KidsPeace, St Christopher's Hospital for Children, Abington Hospital, Cradle of Hope, Laurel House, and Reading Recycled, and Philadelphia Reads. The Day of Service is a way to transform Dr. King’s life and teachings into meaningful community service that helps empower and strengthen local communities.
Cradles To Crayons
TMS initiated a partnership in 2014 with Cradles to Crayons, a local non-profit organization serving local children between the ages of infancy through 12 years of age. Many children and their families are in need right in our own neighborhoods. At times throughout the year, the TMS community donates new and gently used items for the benefit of these children. Cradles to Crayons partners with social service agencies, schools and foster homes that provide direct assistance to children in need, and provides new and gently used items that have been contributed by families, schools, corporations, community groups, churches and other organizations.
UNICEF
Each year, TMS children have the option of collecting for UNICEF during trick or treating.
CHOP
TMS children were taught how to sew pillowcases for children undergoing lengthy stays at CHOP.
Project Linus
Children collected yarn and other materials, and sent them to Project Linus.
Natural Disaster Relief
Donations were given to a Montessori school in Haiti following the 2009 earthquake. In 2017, after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, donations were sent to the Montessori School of Puerto Rico that suffered in the storm and its aftermath.