On Saturday, December 6, Potomac hosted its 10th annual Power Pack event. The Power Pack program is run by Food for Others, a local food pantry/bank that feeds members of our local community. Each Power Pack contains enough food to cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and drinks for one child over the weekend. Every school weekend, these packs reach about 3,200 Fairfax County elementary school students who are struggling with food insecurity.
Hannah Brockway, Development Manager at Food for Others began the event with a presentation on food insecurity and the organization’s goals. By the end of the event, volunteers had assembled over 500 Power Packs. These will be distributed to local children in the New Year.
The Power Pack event is just one example of the many service learning opportunities offered at Potomac. From CAD days to Foundation Experiences for younger students and everywhere in between, service is consistently highlighted in the Potomac curriculum. The person behind all these events? Ms. Joy Webster, K-12 Director of Service Learning. Ms. Webster brings all of these service events to life by working closely with division heads and grade-level deans to plan and coordinate activities across the school.
For Ms. Webster, service begins with “taking care of my neighbors and being a good steward of the environment. My surroundings are a big part of what service means to me. I think it is also about learning and understanding needs in the community more broadly.” Essentially, the first step is understanding what needs to be done; well-meaning efforts without direction go nowhere. “Being informed by those taking informed actions. So understanding, where there might be a need for some help or support to boost the community.”
When asked how her passion for service began, Ms. Webster pointed to her parents. “They modeled what it means to serve others. They really instilled in us the value of taking care of your neighbors. I remember from my earliest days, they showed me what it means to look out for other people. So my home growing up was always a safe place for many if they needed it,” she explained. It was that passion for service and helping others that led Ms. Webster to Potomac in 2008, where she started to make a mark on our community.
At this year’s annual Thanksgiving Assembly, the school recognised her impact by presenting her with the Generosity of Spirit award, which she received alongside Chief Mechanic Dwaine Cunningham. In his remarks about Ms. Webster, Mr. Kowalik emphasized that “Our winner is someone whose generosity isn’t loud or showy—it’s steady, thoughtful, and deeply rooted in relationships. Our external service learning partners describe Joy as kind, present, and genuinely invested in their needs.”
Ms. Webster and the Service Learning program truly embody the caring and supportive spirit of the Potomac community. Ms. Webster expressed what a privilege it is to both receive this award and come to work to do a job she loves. In her words, it is “such an honor to be able to be in this role and to be able to work with students and with faculty to really shine a light on needs in the community.”
