Number of Participants: 15
Hours Donated: 5
Value of Time Served: $634
Event Type: Civic & Community
Sport: Team
Date: February 16, 2017
Location:
2301 Grand Avenue Bellmore
New York 11710, United States
About:
The Students Against Destructive Decisions Club at Grand Avenue Middle School, which includes student athletes, in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District has been focused on making positive impacts and contributions to their community.
“We look at positive ways to promote citizenship and be positive student leaders who do not have to rely on drugs and alcohol to feel good or to be accepted” said teacher and club adviser Pia Santadonato.
During their Mugs of Love project, the club collected more than 200 gently used mugs to donate to the Interfaith Nutrition Network’s Freeport site in mid-February. They packaged up the mugs with various pantry food items.
The INN feeds approximately 100 people each day and is completely run by volunteers.
With their Wrapped in Love project, students delivered nearly 40 handmade baby blankets to the neonatal unit at Winthrop-University Hospital.
“These blankets will be used to keep the babies warm and the babies will be able to take the blanket home with them when they are released from the hospital” Santadonato explained.
Their recent Candy Gram project, spearheaded by eighth-grader Jordyn Krinsky, will benefit the Free to Breathe group to raise money for lung cancer research.
“My grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer last year and I wanted to fundraise for research” she said. “The organization is working to double the current survivor rate.”
With these projects and others, Santadonato said she hopes the students enjoy the feeling that comes along with doing something positive in the world.
Photos courtesy of the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District
