Every year, students and faculty of Cate School drive into the community en masse to lend a hand to nonprofit organizations for the day. This year, more than 300 pairs of hands from Cate assisted schools, community centers, local chapters of national organizations and other nonprofits.

They painted walls and barrels, worked and played with students at elementary schools, organized shelves, weeded gardens and cooked meals.

Although they made an impact on the community, the day represents only a small fraction of the work and time students commit regularly to organizations nearby and internationally.

“It’s important that students know that they can make a difference,” public service director Will Holmes said. “Through Public Service Day and our weekly service trips, Cate students learn that helping others and serving the community is immensely important and makes our world a better place.”

Cate’s motto, “Servons” (French for “let us serve”), is a driving force in the lives of the school’s students and faculty. Cate regards the responsibility that each person has to his or her environment and community as one of the most important characteristics of a citizen in today’s world.

This year during Public Service Day, Cate helped the following organizations: Aliso Elementary School, the American Red Cross-Santa Barbara County Chapter, the Arroyo Hondo Preserve, Art from Scrap, Canalino Elementary School, the Carpinteria Branch Library, Carpinteria Head Start, the Carpinteria Parks Department, the Carpinteria Valley Arts Council, the Casa del Herrero Foundation, Cesar Chavez Charter School, Cleveland Elementary School, the Community Kitchen of Santa Barbara, the Environmental Defense Center, the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, Girls Inc., the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Heal the Ocean, Kinderkirk Preschool, the Lou Grant Parent-Child Workshop, Peoples’ Self-Help Housing, the Saint Joseph Resale Shop, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Storyteller Children’s Center, Summerland Elementary School, Tar Pits Park and the Ty Warner Sea Center.

— Don Orth is the director of communications for Cate School.