Students and staff at Unqua Elementary School in the Massapequa School District used their feet to achieve a feat — raising hundreds of dollars for Down Syndrome International.

The school marked World Down Syndrome Day on March 21 with a “Rock Our Socks” fundraiser. Children and adults were asked to wear funky socks to school and donate a dollar. The idea was brought to the school by the parent of an Unqua kindergartner with Down syndrome, who provided socks for the staff. The fundraiser was organized and promoted by the Student Council.

The purpose of “Rock Our Socks” was to raise money for a cause that benefits a child at the school, and to raise awareness about the challenges that people with Down syndrome face.

Photo Caption:
Fourth-graders showed off their socks which they wore in support of Down syndrome awareness.

Photos courtesy of Massapequa School District

Sam Olson was running through the highlights of the second annual Kids Fighting Hunger community service project.

“We’ve almost doubled what we did last year, in terms of money, food (packed) and volunteers,” Olson said. “It was a very, very big success.”

He stopped and smiled.

“They’re definitely leaving some big shoes for us to fill,” said Olson, a junior from Sioux Falls, S.D.

Indeed they are. About 320 volunteers – mostly student-athletes from Saint John’s University representing nearly 20 percent of the campus population – packed almost 82,400 meals during the event Sunday, March 19, at Guild Hall.

The event was organized by members of the Saint John’s golf team, led by seniors Mack Farley and Morgan Rask and Olson, along with the SJU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Each varsity sport at SJU has two representatives on SAAC, so each sport was heavily involved with the project.

At the end of the event, Farley and Rask turned the reins over to Olson and his teammates.

“The guys have just been great,” said Cathy Wogen, executive director of St. Cloud Kids Fighting Hunger. “My board has said that this is the easiest packaging event that we do, because the guys are so vested.

“I think a lot of (being vested) comes from leadership, and really developing and understanding what service work means and what they can expect to see from their service work,” Wogen said.

Like last year’s event, SJU varsity athletic teams were asked to donate both their time (there were two packaging shifts) and financially ($10 per person). The Saint John’s Student Senate also made a significant contribution.

Farley said asking students to contribute both their time and money makes sense. “They have some skin in the game, and they really care what’s going on,” he said.

That money was augmented by donations from area civic groups, including the Granite City Rotary Club, Optimist Club, Kiwanis Club and the Knights of Columbus, and from donations made at SJU sporting events this fall and winter. In all, over $12,300 was collected, which was then used to purchase the supplies.

“They know how that money is being used. It’s really energized them,” Wogen said.

Up to 17 packaging tables were used during the two sessions. Each table had nine or 10 volunteers, packaging the ingredients – white rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a mineral powder that provides 21 minerals and vitamins.

Most of the meals will be shipped to Somalia. Ten boxes will also go to local food shelves in Avon and St. Joseph.

“We thought we did a pretty good job last year by raising $6,500 and packing 45,000 meals,” Olson said. “But we thought we could do more. We knew we could get more volunteers, and we knew if we raised the money we could pack more meals.”

“The student-athletes were frustrated last year because they felt they could do more,” SJU athletic director and golf coach Bob Alpers said. “What limited them was the money. So, we started earlier, taking donations nickel by nickel at home football, basketball and hockey games.”

“I think this resonates so well because of our Benedictine background here on campus,” said Olson, adding that Lent provides a perfect time to conduct a service project.

“Like Father Ian (Dommer, OSB, director of Campus Ministry) said in his blessing, we’re supposed to give our time, talent and treasure,” Olson said. “What better way for college kids to get involved was to wake up, roll out of bed and walk the 100 or so feet to Guild Hall to pack the meals for an hour?

“I think that’s the biggest thing that resonates. It’s easy to do and it’s fun, but at the same time it’s so impactful.”

Rask said he will miss the event when he graduates this spring.

“It’s a lot of work, but I’ll definitely miss it,” Rask said. “It makes you feel good at the end of the day doing this.

“We’ve got good guys who are going to take the reins and keep this going,” Rask said.

“We started from scratch,” Farley said, “and we’re seeing the benefits now.”

Source: http://www.gojohnnies.com/news/2017/3/20/general-sju-student-athletes-pack-nearly-82-400-meals-for-somalia-area-food-shelves.aspx

Students, family members, administrators and faculty members in the Northport-East Northport School District gathered at William J. Brosnan School for St. Baldrick’s Day on March 10 in the fight to end childhood cancer.

The school community created teams in which individuals raised money for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, an organization the district has supported for the past nine years. The teams came out to the event to get their heads shaved in honor of those who have battled cancer or are currently fighting the deadly disease. Through online donations alone, the district raised more than $75,000 for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation this year.

St. Baldrick’s Foundation organizer John McKenna and Superintendent of Schools Robert Banzer were grateful for the turnout and support from the school community.

“I want to thank this community, who have been unbelievable at helping others weather the storm,” said Banzer. “I want to extend a thanks to those who are donating their time today, donating their hair and donating money for such an admirable cause.”
Local barbershops and salons volunteered their time and skills to shave heads. Banzer and eight-year-old Northport-East Northport cancer survivor Christian Sloan cut the green ribbon to kick off the event. Sloan overcame anaplastic ependymoma, also known as a brain tumor and helped shave volunteers’ heads during the event.

One by one, team members of all ages sat in chairs on the auditorium stage and had their heads shaved for the cause, while the Northport Pipe and Drums entertained the crowd with their bagpipe performance.
Attendees were also welcomed into the gymnasium for the opportunity to support the foundation by purchasing food, St. Baldrick’s apparel and participating in raffles, balloon animals, a silent art auction and face painting by Illuminated Faces.
In addition, Norwood Avenue Elementary School Girl Scouts sold Girl Scout cookies in the lobby with a percentage of the cookie purchases going towards the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

Photo caption: The Bellerose Fuzzballs showed off their newly shaved looks.

Photos courtesy of the Northport-East Northport School District

Students, staff and family members at Bayport-Blue Point School District’s James Wilson Young Middle School recently showed their support for children fighting childhood cancer by lining up to shave their heads at the “Rock the Bald 2017” event, in partnership with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
The event was run by members of the James Wilson Young National Junior Honor Society, who have raised upwards of $15,000 each year through raffles and by selling delicious treats throughout the course of the night.

Photo Caption: Students, staff and family members at Bayport-Blue Point School District’s James Wilson Young Middle School recently showed their support for children fighting childhood cancer by lining up to shave their heads at the “Rock the Bald 2017” event, in partnership with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

Photo courtesy of Bayport-Blue Point School District

Source: https://fordhamram.com/2017/03/08/special-issue-student-athletes-turned-student-activists/

By Jack McLoone
Sports Editor of The Fordham Ram

Every year, during orientation, Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, spends his address to incoming freshmen discussing the tenets of the Jesuits. Chief among them: men and women of Fordham are expected to be men and women for others.

In the sports world, athletes are often elevated to hero status. If you were to ask a middle-schooler who their hero was, mixed in among “my mom” and “my dad” you would get a lot of “LeBron James” and “Derek Jeter” and “Serena Williams” and other pro athletes. But more often than not, these athletes are viewed as heroes for their actions on the field.

One of Fordham University’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council’s (SAAC) goals is to help student-athletes elevate themselves not on the field or court, but as people and as activists in the community.

“A large emphasis of what we do is getting our student-athletes out into the community,” said Danielle Padovano, a senior on the women’s basketball team and president of SAAC. “We are lucky to be supported by our community especially with the support we get from young kids from around the greater NYC area who come to our competitions. We do everything we can to give back.”

SAAC is composed of representatives from every varsity team at Fordham who are nominated by their coaches.

“SAAC reps are people who are looked at as leaders within the athletic department and do a great job of holding that responsibility,” said Padovano.

Coaches are in charge of setting a minimum number of community service hours that their players have to reach each year. SAAC keeps track of the hours the student-athletes put in. The numbers are also shared with the Atlantic 10, with all the teams in the conference competing to put in the most hours year to year.

Student-athletes can log their hours in a variety of ways, whether it be through doing community outreach work or attending events held by other student organizations on campus, such as the Special Olympics fashion show.

The SAAC executive board and the team representatives work to come up with various programs to give student-athletes opportunities to fulfill their hours. For the first time, this past year, they partnered with Alex’s Lemonade Stand, a pediatric cancer organization.

“Each year we have a toy drive after which we take a trip to the Maria Ferrari Children’s Hospital in Westchester to personally hand out our donations to the children who are suffering from all forms and in all stages of cancer,” said Padovano. “This is personally my favorite event. It is always a beautiful day.”

Another popular outreach program for Rams last year was weekly trips to the Saint Ignatius school in the Bronx, where the student-athletes would play with the students during recess.

SAAC also organizes a food drive around Thanksgiving every year for the Bronx food bank Part of the Solution (POTS).

While SAAC gives student-athletes opportunities for outreach through Fordham, there are some that take it upon themselves to reach out. For example, Manny Adeyeye, a senior on the football team, did an overnight stay at a homeless shelter through The Ansche Chesed synagogue.

“It was definitely a new experience for me,” said Adeyeye. “I got to interact with a homeless man face-to-face and was also able to assist him with sleeping and showering arrangements. I didn’t know what to expect of the guys at the shelter but they seemed to be normal human beings.”

The goals of any outreach program are two-fold: to help people in need, but also for those reaching out to gain a new perspective on life and grow as people.

“I learned a lot. Definitely not to judge someone by their economic status,” said Adeyeye. “We tend to label homelessness as the people we see with cardboard signs by streetlights thinking they are on drugs or smelly people sleeping on the train, but honestly a homeless person can be right next to you and you won’t even know it. All homeless people don’t dress in rags with no shoes, some are well educated and just can’t get themselves out of the hole they are in. My experience at this shelter changed my view on life.”

While SAAC has been a part of Fordham Athletics for a while, the push for more activism by the student-athletes has been a major point of emphasis recently. While there have been numerous events, there is still room to grow.

“SAAC does a pretty good job of making sure all of its members are pretty aware of any opportunities that we could have to do any activist work in the community,” said senior member of the football team and SAAC representative George Dawson. “I think Fordham could do a better job of promoting athlete activism because although we are very aware of things we can do in the community there are limited opportunities in which we actually get to go out and do things in the community. I think with the proper promotion, we would be able to act on more opportunities.”

Another favorite ideal of Fr. McShane’s is the idea of educating “the whole person.” Through community outreach, Fordham’s student-athletes are able to grow beyond just the classroom and the playing field. They can, as Padovano alluded to, become more deserving of the “hero” label sometimes placed on athletes:

“As athletes, we are recognized as role models for the youth in our communities and we take that responsibility with honor.”