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Topics in the News:
community service
Like many handmade quilts, the one created by students at PS/MS 34 in Manhattan tells a story: not of prairie harvests or mountain weddings but of an urban tragedy that happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
Dozens of outstanding children graduating from elementary and middle schools in Brooklyn District 20 will be getting a boost thanks to funds raised through the district’s annual scholarship dinner dance.
As they have a reputation for doing, Bronx UCAN volunteers rose to the occasion in the name of helping others, this time for a cancer prevention study on March 2.
At PS 299 in Bushwick, the 3rd-graders raised money to help families made homeless by Hurricane Sandy, while a 4th-grade class organized a can drive for Sandy victims.
Students left their school, PS 18 in the South Bronx, on March 4 with bags full of food to bring home to their families. The food bags kicked off a food pantry program at the school, which is one of the UFT’s six Community Learning Schools piloting a model that transforms school buildings into hubs that strengthen the entire community.
Students and staff from an elementary school in Mahopac in Putnam County arrived at PS 39 on Staten Island on Jan. 31 to donate 4,000 books to students from that school and nearby PS 38 and PS 41, whose neighborhoods bore the brunt of the flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy.
A lifelong resident of District 20, where she attended PS 186, IS 96 and New Utrecht HS, Laurie Windsor devotes her free time to ensure that the neighborhood and its schools stay strong for this generation. Now a resident of Bath Beach, Windsor has served on the District 20 Community Education Council as treasurer, vice president and now president for eight years and is active on two School Leadership Teams.
Beverly Reid is a mainstay at CS 300 in the Bronx. A daily volunteer in the East Tremont school, “Miss Beverly” is cited by Principal Venessa Singleton for her “commitment and caring” and her willingness to go “above and beyond.”
“If any PTA president and parent volunteer ever deserved recognition, it’s Jimmy Orr,” said Chapter Leader Andrea Carte of PS 114 in Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood. He makes sure that technology is up to par and solves any glitch that’s called to his attention. A native of the area and a graduate of South Shore HS, Orr was a New York City policeman for eight years when he was injured on the job. He opted to become a stay-at-home dad 12 years ago. Soon he became a community activist and a full-time volunteer at both PS 114 and MS 366, where his children are enrolled.
Beverly Reid is a mainstay at CS 300 in the Bronx. A daily volunteer in the East Tremont school, “Miss Beverly” is cited by Principal Venessa Singleton for her “commitment and caring” and her willingness to go “above and beyond.”
In Far Rockaway, the Refuge Church of Christ served as a base for UFT members volunteering in the cleanup and debris removal. UFT President Michael Mulgrew attended Dec. 16 church services and presented a plaque to the pastor, Bishop Leroy Joseph, in recognition of the congregation’s invaluable aid “in partnership with the UFT.”
The glow sticks were bright, the fruit punch was redder than Rudolph’s nose, and Santa Claus was coming to town. That brought joy to 150 children on Dec. 15, when the UFT, in conjunction with the Coalition for the Homeless, threw open its doors at Manhattan headquarters for a big holiday bash.
More than 150 students, parents and community members streamed into PS 18 in the South Bronx for a Dec. 24 holiday luncheon filled with “a magical, Christmasy” vibe, according to Nicholas Cruz, the UFT Bronx community and parent liaison.
For the fifth year, the staff at MS 232 in the Bronx has opened the school and their hearts to school families and the community to share holiday cheer at their annual Christmas Dinner.
As they ripped open the brightly colored wrappings and discovered wishes really do come true, PS 188’s 2nd- and 3rd-graders wore smiles that would have melted the hearts of even the unredeemed Grinch and “humbug” Scrooge.
More than 100 children at the Brownsville New Horizons homeless shelter got just what they asked Santa Claus for this year at a festive celebration sponsored by the staff of the UFT Brooklyn borough office on Dec. 20.
Two families from the Abyssinian Family Shelter in Harlem enjoyed a special Christmas this year thanks to the AFT Black Caucus, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. At the Dec. 22 Black Caucus Holiday Giveaway, one family — a mother and five children — received toys, book bags, scarves, gloves and gift cards.
At a UFT knitting jamboree to highlight the Hurricane Sandy Relief Scarf Campaign — 1,000 Scarves to Warm the Soul, serious and fledgling knitters and crocheters, men and women, young and old gathered at union headquarters on Dec. 17 to put their hands and skills to work.
UCAN. It stands for Uniting Communities and Neighborhoods, and it’s a new good-will project in the Bronx that has dozens of UFT members hammering or cleaning or beautifying or just playing games with children at a shelter.
A bountiful Thanksgiving dinner was held one day early, on Nov. 21, at Queens HS for Information, Research and Technology in the heart of Far Rockaway. The school invited parents and children for the day’s holiday feast that educators cooked and served.
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