Number of Participants: 32
Hours Donated: 2
Value of Time Served: $541
Event Type: Children & Youth
Sport: Schools
Date: December 17, 2019
Location:
Massapequa
NY, USA
About:
The pajama and book drive is an annual holiday tradition for the Helping Hands Club at Massapequa High School’s Ames Campus with ninth graders bringing joy to local preschool students.
After a month-long collection drive at the school that netted 200 pairs of pajamas and 175 books, Helping Hands members spent an afternoon wrapping the gifts before visiting the Head Start program in Amityville on Dec. 17. Each preschool student received two pairs of pajamas and two books, with extra donations going to the Head Start program in Rockville Centre.
The 32 students from Helping Hands spent time at the preschool to hand out gifts, read to the children and play games.
Sofia Panagoulias said it was very rewarding to see the children’s faces light up as she and her classmates arrived. Connor Grauling added that the best part of the experience was getting the see the impact that the donations have on others, especially kids.
“It made me happy to make the children smile at Christmastime,” Allison Gonzalez said. “We got to give them books and read to them, and the pajamas they were really excited about.”
Photo caption: After delivering pajamas and books to children at the Amityville Head Start program, students in the Helping Hands club at Massapequa High School’s Ames Campus read to the preschool age children.
Photo courtesy of the Massapequa School District