Thursday, October 1, 2026
Two Hewitt Elementary School first graders, Aidan Kyne and Adela Schwarz-Van Praag raised more than $1,200 from a charity sale on May 12 for the Masese Primary School in Uganda. The money will be used to purchase a self-sustaining food source — a chicken coop and chickens — that will help to provide breakfast for the 400 children who attend school in the poverty-stricken African village. The Rockville Centre community and Hewitt first grade families showed real support by generously donating merchandise for the charity sale, purchasing handmade bookmarks, other items and jewelry crafted by the mothers of Masese.
The sale evolved from the efforts of two local women, former Assistant Superintendent Delia Garrity and Diana Silon, who are involved with Help International, a charity based in Denver that built the Masese school. Garrity and Silon have been traveling to Masese to work with its children and help build and equip the school. This year, they engaged with Hewitt first graders to show them what hardships their counterparts in Uganda face every day. The children were captivated and shared supplies, shirts and found ways to fundraise to help the children and their school.
When Aidan told his father, David Kyne, about Masese, an idea was born. David travels to Africa frequently as part of United Against Malaria, an organization that uses soccer to educate and campaign for the need to prevent and treat malaria (www.unitedagainstmalaria.org). He was heading to Uganda this month and after coordinating with Garrity and Silon, David made plans to visit the school on May 21.
Aidan wanted to do more and asked his father if he could bring some of his toys for the children of Masese. Realizing that wouldn’t be possible, Aidan’s mother, Jacqueline, suggested a charity sale and Aidan loved the idea. Searching the house for toys, books and clothes to sell was the beginning of the sale. To add to the charity sale, Aidan and Adela created pictures that follow the theme “Clothe, Feed, Heal, Educate.” Their pictures were used to create bookmarks. They received 100 bookmarks and www.MMPrint.com in Carle Place will donate an additional 2,000 for future fundraising. The bookmarks alone will raise an additional $4,000 for the school. They are being sold for $2 each.
David Kyne also visited Hewitt school to videotape the children singing and playing and to pick up their donated shirts and their handmade self-portraits and stories that they made into a book for their new friends in Masese — items he will personally deliver.
