Staples is filled with SLOBs.
And Westport is a far better place for them.
The yuk-yuk anagram stands for Service League of Boys. The parent-son community service club is one of the most popular organizations at school.
It’s only 3 years old, but already the SLOBs have established a great tradition: Service Sunday. Fathers, mothers and teenage sons work together doing construction, landscaping and painting for social service groups in town.
Last year they gave the Gillespie Center a new courtyard, finished the food pantry and painted their office. SLOBs painted the bathrooms at Bacharach Emergency Housing, and mulched their beds. They did a lot of landscaping for Saugatuck Apartments and Linxweiler, and also worked for seniors through the Department of Human Services.
This year they’ve added Project Return and the ABC House.
Staples SLOBs work in the Gillespie Shelter food pantry.
They pay for supplies with unique fundraisers. For 2011 a committee of boys devised an arm wrestling event. After school on March 11, SLOBs and friends will try to break the Guinness world record for simultaneous arm wrestlers (it’s 200). Then SLOBs will host an arm wrestling tournament, with teams of 6 (3 males, 3 females — teachers are welcome). By charging an entry fee, SLOBs hopes to raise up to $10,000.
Tom and David Kalb help landscape Linxweiler House.
But they still need help for Service Day (this year, May 1). SLOBs provides the grunt work, but they need professionals to help — for example, doing bathroom renovatiions (including new vinyl flooring), and installing paving stones and removing damaged asphalt at the Gillespie Center.
Pros are also needed for power washing at 2 houses; porch renovation and replacement of rotted shingles; replacing a rotted stockade fence, and sheetrocking a small area of the food pantry.
Sure, Staples students sometimes leave the cafeteria a mess. But this group of SLOBs is doing some pretty neat things.
(Interested in helping with Service Sunday, either by donating professional expertise or money? Able to donate a storage shed, new grill, and/or new tools like rakes and shovels? Contact Suzanne Kalb: skalb@optonline.net; 203-226-4803.)
Very nice, very nice indeed. Staples slobs will take on a whole new meaning now. Slightly sexist but Mom is around, I guess. The gals are excluded? No expertise here but a strong back so a check will have to do. In the mail.
Nice!!!!! Will send a check.
The S.L.O.B.’s are not only kind and doing for 2 legged creatures, but, are awesome around 4 legged critters too.
Their volunteering to help at the 2nd Annual WASA’s Top Dog event, this past October, was throughly appreciated and needed. All tasks that they were assigned were accomplished to the ‘T’…and, the S.L.O.B.’s interaction and friendiness with the crowd was remarkable.
Great youngsters and great leadership. We are most fortunate.
These guys are the BEST! They do so much for Homes with Hope and for Westport. Thanks Dan for shining on them for a day!
Thank you for the support, all of you! We really appreciate it.
Ditto for the Westport Library’s outdoor summer book sale in July…more than once, too!
I stumbled upon this blog and pictures after Googling myself. I remember my father telling me about a “Linxweiler homestead” in CT. Joanna Linxweiler is my great-aunt. I never met her, but my father was close to her and has told me stories. I just wanted to share my gratitude that the house still stands and is being well kept. I haven’t been to Westport in a while but will have to make my way down.
THANKS for checking in, Justin. The Linxweiler house is being maintained very well by Westport’s Department of Human Services, as transitional housing. And the name still stands proudly!