Minnesauke Elementary School students and staff members showcased their comedic sides as they sporting red noses for a worthy cause and took part in the first ever Red Nose Day, stateside. The event, which gained national attention this May, participants to wear the noses and donate funds to help lift children out of poverty. The proceeds from the cause will be split between supporting programs in the US and supporting organizations helping children around the world.

Fifth-grade students in Kate Hunter’s class coordinated the event at Minnesauke. Leading up to the project acted as humanitarian ambassadors, creating and distributing materials to alert the school community of the big day. In addition to the community service aspect, the project also tied into the class’s curriculum.
They learned about the areas affected by poverty through their social studies work and integrated mathematics into the donation drive.

Photo Caption: Minnesauke Elementary School students, staff and families supported the first ever Red Nose Day this May.

Photo provided by the Three Village School District

Hundreds of students joined members of Syosset High School’s Interact Club and school administrators on the football field at Syosset High School to welcome a 9-year-old girl from Kosovo that received a life-saving heart surgery, thanks to the club’s outreach efforts.

The Syosset School community introduced Rina and her mother, along with Kosovo’s UN representative at the 50-yard line during a ceremony kicking off the seven days of surgeries slated to take place the week of May 18 all over the world.

The operations are the culminating event of a year-long campaign conducted by the Interact Club called “7 in 7,” representing the goal to pay for seven surgeries on seven children in seven continents in seven days. The surgeries are intended to correct children born with congenital heart defects, a fatal condition that claims the lives of thousands of children in underserved parts of the world.

Playing off the club’s theme “Superman Saves Lives, So Do We,” the Interact students and their supporters donned blue Superman t-shirts and gathered around the perimeter of a massive Superman symbol painted midfield to represent their solidarity in the year’s efforts.

Rina was scheduled for surgery on May 20; other children receiving the operation hail from every inhabited continent on earth. An eighth child, a Syrian refugee, will also receive the corrective surgery as the club’s “World Peace” recipient.

The club has raised $60,000 in its campaign to pay for the surgeries and travel expenses for each child. Funds were raised through raffles, donations, an online campaign, a viral video campaign and a district-wide Cupcake Wars event
that drew in more than $12,000. They were also the recipients of a $3,000 Grant from NBTY Helping Hands and Team Up 4 Community’s 2014 Holiday Heroes Community Service Challenge. To learn more about their participation in the Community Service Challenge, please visit: http://teamup4community.org/li-holiday-sports-heroes-video-challenge-open

Photo courtesy of the Syosset School District.

Amityville Memorial High School’s Warrior Awareness Club (WAC PAC) advisor Jason McGowan and 25 members of the club spent May 3 at Walt Whitman High School for the annual Long Island Special Olympics. Students partnered with a Special Olympics athlete and escorted them to their events throughout the day. The student volunteers took their athletes to the Olympic Village, joined them for lunch and danced with them as the DJ played throughout the day. The event created a lifetime of memories and fostered strong connections between students and athletes.

Photos courtesy of the Amityville School District

West End Elementary School’s Student Council and Lynbrook High School’s Student Government Association joined forces to raise money for hemophilia research during Lynbrook’s Lacrosse Day in late April. The $200 in proceeds was donated to Christopher’s Hemophilia Benefit in support of West End fifth-grader Christopher Ambrosio. The collaboration between the elementary and high school students resulted from discussions that began in February, when students at a joint meeting brainstormed ways they could work together to benefit an important cause. Christopher, who was born with hemophilia, organizes various initiatives with the support of his family and friends. Their goal is to increase awareness and raise funds for the National Hemophilia Foundation in order to find a cure for this rare bleeding disorder.

With insight from several high school athletes who participate in the Student Government Association, the two student groups decided that a sporting event would present an ideal fundraising opportunity. Approximately 20 elementary and high school students worked together and sold snacks, beach towels, blankets and other items as the varsity boys lacrosse team faced off in a game against Manhasset.

Caption: Students from West End Elementary School and Lynbrook High School teamed up to raise funds for hemophilia during a sporting event sale.

Photos Courtesy of Lynbrook Public Schools

New York – This past April 13, the Queens College mens tennis and women’s swimming and diving teams left campus with Emanuel Avila, Associate Director of Judicial Affairs & Service Learning at Queens College , to go to the streets of Manhattan to feed and clothe the homeless.

Tennis Coach Somadi was amazed at the number of homeless that approached the van for food. One Tennis Freshman said while he was handing out water “ Coach it feels so nice helping these people!” The homeless were so appreciative to receive food and clothes from us.

Swim team captain stated that ” This is the second time I have been on the run and it reinforced what I have to be thankful for! I think that all the athletes really had a different outlook on life and how lucky they are as they climbed into their nice warms beds that night!”

The Queens College swimming and diving team and the men’s tennis team helped live out the Collge’s motto, Discimus ut Serviamus, “We learn so that we may serve.”