James Wilson Young Middle School students and staff warmed up the holiday season for those in need in the community by coordinating a food drive.
Through the effort, the school collected more than 3,240 nonperishable food items and canned goods for the Our Lady of the Snow food pantry and soup kitchen in Patchogue. The homerooms of each grade level battled to see who could collect the most donations, and the winning classes were awarded a bagel breakfast just before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Members of East Rockaway School District’s boys and girls basketball teams will be collecting new and unwrapped toys for the Cancer Center for Kids at Winthrop-University Hospital and the hospital’s pediatric unit during upcoming home games.
Toys will be collected at the door at the following games: the girls junior varsity game against Oceanside on Dec. 15 at 5:30 p.m., followed by the girls varsity game at 7:15 p.m.; and the boys junior varsity game against Mineola on Dec. 19 at 12 p.m., followed by the boys varsity game at 2 p.m.
The collection is being held in collaboration with Greggs’ Wings, a nonprofit organization founded by the Kienke family of East Rockaway. The family began the organization to honor Gregg Kienke, who lost his life to cancer just weeks after he was born.
In honor of Veterans Day, students at Oldfield Middle School wrote letters for patients at the Northport Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Seventh-grade student Tory Levy collected the 200 handwritten cards and delivered them to the VA center on Nov. 11.
Story and photo courtesy of Harborfields School District
In recognition of World Kindness Day on Nov. 13, sixth-grade students at Oldfield Middle, under the direction of Andrea Horowitz, decorated and filled boxes with party supplies to help homeless children celebrate their birthdays.
In the weeks leading up to the event, students brought birthday supplies and presents to school to add to the boxes. They worked in groups to wrap the boxes and presents in festive paper. Following guidelines provided by the Birthday Wishes organization, each “birthday-in-a-box” party kit was created for a boy, girl or neutral birthday theme and filled with juice boxes, party hats, cups, napkins, plates, handmade birthday cards, a banner and presents. The students created a total of eight boxes to donate to Birthday Wishes.
“I think this creates an awareness for the kids to realize how much they have to be thankful for,” said Horowitz. “It makes the students feel good to help other kids.”
Founded in 2002, Birthday Wishes is a nonprofit organization that helps bring the magic of a birthday party to thousands of homeless children in shelters or transitional living facilities each year.
Story and photo courtesy of Harborfields School District
The Division Avenue High School physical education department hosted the school’s inaugural flag football Turkey Bowl Championship tournament on Nov. 9.
There were 16 teams of students, who all contributed a non-perishable food item to the Levittown Food Pantry located at Wisdom Lane Middle School. After a spirited competition, the Levittown Pioneers team, which included JC Soriano, Chris LaRocca, Joe Leoce, George Hafner, Jimmy Langjhar and Vinny Inciarrano, clinched the championship title against the D.O.M. team and was named Turkey Bowl Champion.
The physical education department commends all of the participants for their competitive spirit and for their willingness to assist Levittown families in need for the Thanksgiving holiday. The physical education department plans on building
on the success of this year’s event with an even bigger turnout next year.
Photo Captions:
Photo A: Sixteen teams of students participated in the inaugural Turkey Bowl Championship tournament at Division Avenue High School in Levittown.
Photo B: The Levittown Pioneers team clinched the Turkey Bowl Championship against the D.O.M. team.
Photos courtesy of the Levittown School District
