By NANCY HILER
The event marked the start of a yearlong tribute to Erin Getzler, who was 6 years old and in first grade at Martin Avenue in March 2005 when she died of a brain tumor.
The tribute includes the recently launched Butterfly Loose-Change Project, begun by the school's student council, the Martin Avenue Cares Council. It is similar to the Million Pennies Project, in which MACC students and their supporters raised $10,000 for 1 in 9/the Long Island Breast Cancer Action Coalition. This time, students are collecting loose change in support of the Bellmore-based Guardian Brain Foundation. The nonprofit group, which aids patients afflicted by brain diseases and injuries, helped support Erin and her family during her ordeal.
Last month, Martin Avenue students visited Bellmore merchants and asked them to place "butterfly buckets" on their countertops where customers could drop loose change for the Guardian Brain Foundation. As part of the campaign, MACC students asked store owners to display paper butterflies they had designed in their front windows, to encourage shoppers to donate to the foundation.
At the October ceremony to launch a campaign called Butterflies Across Bellmore, Principal Mark Wiener said, "We are here in memory of one of our own students." He welcomed Erin's family and acknowledged her two older brothers, who also attend the school. "She was a beautiful girl, and she loved butterflies," Wiener said. "We are using the butterfly as a symbol of caring and compassion, of helping other people."
During the ceremony, children sang a song and waved paper butterflies they had designed. They then watched excitedly as their teachers lined up and opened mesh cages to release butterflies that the students had watched develop from caterpillars for several weeks in their classrooms.
Guardian Brain Foundation President Mary Pallotta announced the Butterflies across Bellmore campaign in memory of Erin. "Every year we do Butterflies across America, but this year we're doing Butterflies across Bellmore," she said. The plan was to continue the fundraising and awareness campaign through March, which is Brain Awareness Month, but the Martin Avenue students have since decided to extend it to June.
Pallotta lost her brother to a brain tumor and her father to a brain injury. Each year, more than 100,000 people are diagnosed with brain tumors, according to Guardian Brain, which is run by volunteers.
"What a wonderful job you have done," Pallotta told the children. "Erin, I am sure, is watching."
More information on the Guardian Brain Foundation and the Butterfly Loose-Change Project can be found at www.guardianbrain.com. Anyone wishing to lend support to the children's cause and participate in the fundraiser can contact MACC at Martin Avenue School by calling (516) 992-3000.
Comments about this story? NHiler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
