By Nicole Falco
District 13's Interschool PTA sent fliers to each of its four school buildings asking for donations of at least $1 that would then be donated to the American Red Cross. The PTA is calling the effort "Dollars For Disaster."
Besides districtwide fund-raising efforts, the Willow Road School PTA and Student Council adopted three schools - Beaumont Elementary Magnet School in Tennessee, and Belle Rose and Napoleonville primary schools in Louisiana. Through "Operation Will(ow)," students and their families have donated school supplies, including backpacks, notebooks, crayons, glue, loose-leaf, pencils, pens and more. Students counted and sorted the items, which were then packed and shipped to the schools by the PTA. Students also donated a softcover book with handwritten messages of support for their peers in the south.
At the James A. Dever School, students are "Mending Fences." They have pledged to earn money by helping others and use it to purchase "fence posts" that will represent growth in the affected areas, according to Principal Darren Gruen. The money raised will be donated to the Red Cross. Along with the school's monetary donation, students will decorate a Mardi Gras mask that will be placed on the fence they craft.
Care bears
South High School seventh-grader Stefano Flavoni, a graduate of the William L. Buck School, sold teddy bears from his family's collection last Saturday to raise money for hurricane survivors
The idea came to him about two weeks ago, when, according to Flavoni, he found a Louisiana bear at his house and figured it would be a great idea to sell all the bears to help raise money for hurricane relief.
"I want people to know that there are caring people [in Valley Stream]," Flavoni, 11, said. "I just wanted to do something to help."
The collection of 87 bears comprises bears representing different states, designed with their state's colors and with a state quarter sewn into a foot.
Sitting outside the Metropolis Salon on Dubois Avenue, Flavoni sold 20 bears in the first hour of the sale, which lasted from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. He raised $624, according to his mother, Antonella, and all of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross. "There were a lot of people who were very generous out there," said Antonella. "Some people just gave us the money without taking a bear."
Filling backpacks
The Central High School District is holding a districtwide drive to collect supplies for a hurricane-affected school in Mississippi, according to Arlene Hinkemeyer, the district's community information coordinator. Though the district is still awaiting word as to which school it will be partnered with, efforts are already under way. For instance, at Central High School, 10th-graders were asked to donate spiral notebooks, pens and loose-leaf; 11th-graders are bringing in binders, graph paper and colored pencils; and 12th-graders have been asked to provide marble notebooks, folders and pencils. All students have been asked to donated new or used backpacks.
Volleyball fund-raiser
Central High School's varsity and junior varsity girls' volleyball teams hosted a tournament Sept. 17 at the school to raise funds for hurricane relief. Central, South High School, Carey High School in Franklin Square and the Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead participated in the event.
Players sold refreshments and raffle tickets, and collected toiletries. The event raised $850, and three boxes of toiletries were collected. The following Saturday, the teams gathered after practice to sort the donated items and create emergency relief kits as per the recommendation of the United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR). Sixty-five kits were assembled, each including a toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, wash cloth, towel, bar of soap, nail clipper or file, and adhesive bandages. The kits were sent to affected areas by UMCOR. Some of the $850 raised was used to purchase additional kit items and to cover shipping costs, but the majority - $600 - was donated to UMCOR for relief efforts.
Help is on the way
For many local schools, relief efforts have just begun or are still in the planning stages, as charitable organizations like the Red Cross and UMCOR continue to assess what is needed by the affected communities. District 30's Shaw Avenue School Student Council is in the process of organizing either a food or clothing drive, and the PTA plans to donate a percentage of the proceeds from many fund-raisers it has planned for hurricane relief.
Forest Road School second-graders will be writing postcards to children living in affected areas, according to Principal Theresa Scrocco. The cards will be delivered by the Red Cross. In addition to writing, the second-graders, together with the PTA, will sell postcards in school to raise money for hurricane survivors and encourage the entire school to write notes to children living in Gulf Coast states.
Mike Schnitzel contributed to this story. Comments about it? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
