Number of Participants: 100
Hours Donated: 4
Value of Time Served: $3,380
Event Type: Children & Youth
Sport: Schools
Date: May 4, 2023
Location:
Stratford School
Stratford Avenue, Garden City
NY
About:
As part of their April service-learning project, Stratford School fifth graders donated birthday supplies to the Birthday Wishes organization in Hicksville. The organization’s Birthday-in-a-Box Program provides a party box and birthday gifts to families of homeless children on Long Island. The mission of Birthday Wishes is to improve and empower the lives of homeless children by providing joy, play and hope through the magic of a birthday party.
For their boxes, each class collected supplies geared toward a designated theme, including “sports,” “emojis,” “Legos,” “superheroes,” “Hawaiian luau” and more. Students donated paper plates, napkins, juice boxes, birthday banners, party hats, birthday candles, and icing amongst various other birthday-related items.
Each fifth grade class had two student representatives who collected, organized and sorted all of the supplies. Fifth grader Aiden Schmidt spoke on behalf of his entire class, saying, “It felt good to donate to kids who need help.” In total, all seven fifth grade classes were able to create 17 birthday boxes.
Photo captions:
1: From left, fifth graders Nina Wunsch, Alexis Gibbons and Evan Persaud packed a birthday box.
2: From left, students Sarina Pariti, Bella Mai, Nora Loeven, Charles Bayduss and Luke Padala gathered and packed supplies for the Birthday-in-a-Box program.
3: From left, Bridget Psaki, Harlyn Ellis, Gianna Garufi, Adriana Fusco and Amelia Takvor packed and wrapped a number of birthday boxes for the Birthday Wishes organization.
Photos courtesy of Garden City Public Schools