Race Brook School students and families give to those in need

 

By Valerie Anton

The students of the Race Brook School Student Council under the leadership of teachers, JoAnne Escandon and Pam Galatioto, organized their annual food drive this fall to benefit Fish of Greater New Haven, Inc. and the Orange Community Center, a non-profit food pantry that serves New Haven and Orange residents in food crisis.

Founded in 1968, FISH continues to help those who are homebound, elderly, disabled, unemployed or under employed (www.fishgnh.org).

The Student Council’s message for the food drive was, “As you count your own blessings, please support our community food drive!” The entire student body, with the help of their parents, whole-heartedly participated in donating over 600 pounds of non-perishable food items, including supermarket gift cards. The council members proudly presented the donations to FISH on behalf of the school. “ Working on the food drive is fun and hard work. I learned to always try your best to help others,” says fifth graders Sarah G.

The photo (above) shows enthusiastic student members who willingly dedicated their time and energy to collect the donated food items. Top row left to right the members are: Grace Mahon, Adana Blair, Katie Sim, Frankie Cavallaro; bottom row: Julie Chen, Julianna Barrett, Charlotte Pellegrino, Kayleigh Fitzpatrick, and Sarah Ginsberg.

The children from the town of Orange prove once again that they put their hearts into giving to those in need.

“Helping people in need made me feel great! My father always tells me it’s not the money that you give, it’s the time that you donate. I am very proud of the whole school for bringing in so much food to really help others,” emphatically states fifth grader Kaleigh F.

 

Editor's note: Valerie Anton is public relations coordinator for the Race Brook School Student Council. This is a guest post.