By SARI ZEIDLER
During the school year, Camp Avenue music teacher Peggy Rakas conceived of a Practice-a-Thon. She introduced the idea of having students find sponsors to donate funds for every minute of practice playing a musical instrument. The district jumped on board, and ultimately 36 schools throughout Long Island joined the effort.
"It all started with one band teacher at one school in North Merrick," Paule Pachter, executive director of the food bank, said. "Mrs. Peggy Rakas asked if her band could do it for us and then sent an e-mail to some of her colleagues in other schools. It just mushroomed into this fantastic, fun and very industrious fundraiser, with the students learning about hunger and our founder."
Harry Chapin, founder of Long Island Cares, was a renowned folk singer and humanitarian. He gained fame as a musician for his hit song "Cat's in the Cradle" and as a humanitarian for his role in creating the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1987, seven years after he started Long Island Cares.
"There is a natural bond between music and our organization, which our board and staff continue to actively nurture, and when musically talented children get involved, wonderful things like Practice-A-Thon happen," Pachter, also a musician, said.
In a letter of thanks for the district's support to North Merrick Superintendent David Feller, Pachter said, "Many times hunger and poverty are hard to see. By outward appearances, we may not know a family is struggling or that a school-age child does not have enough food at home. People needing help are often filled with shame, and no matter how kind the food pantry worker may be, the worried parent keeps thinking, 'I can't feed my kids.'"
Long Island Cares is Long Island's first food bank, headquartered in Hauppauge, and is a member agency of the Food Bank Association of New York State and Feeding America.
Comments about this story? SZeidler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
