Hats for Haiti
After seeing graphic images of the devastation in Haiti, students at Jack Abrams Intermediate School decided to pitch in and try to address some of the suffering. This week the youngsters are promoting a “Hats for Haiti” initiative to raise money for relief efforts in the Caribbean country.
Students, teachers and support staff members are being encouraged to wear hats to school and kick in $1 to a relief fund for each day they do so. “They will color in a hat that has the logo of a husky (the school mascot) on it and give it to their teachers so we can hang them in the hall to show participation,” teacher Cristina Anderson said.
The school has a well-established tradition of helping others in need, even those far from Huntington. New teachers quickly sign-on to such efforts and students feel good about being able to contribute in some small way to the worldwide humanitarian effort.
It’s not surprising that Mrs. Anderson, who earned an undergraduate degree at Fordham University, quickly embraced the cause. “In college, I volunteered in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, volunteered teaching inner-city kids and was a volunteer in the Rose Hill Society, a group that shows prospects and their families around campus,” she said.
After graduating from Fordham, Mrs. Anderson obtained a master’s degree the following year in 1994 at Sacred Heart University. She then taught for three years in a Catholic school in Westchester where she was living at the time. Her career in Huntington started on February 2, 1998 – a date engraved in her memory.
“I believe that you have to ‘pay it forward’ and volunteering and helping others makes you feel good,” Mrs. Anderson said. “I try to show my class, through experiences like this, that how you feel after doing a good deed for someone else is your reward.”
The teacher’s sixth grade students are up for the effort and so is the rest of the school. My class was soooo enthusiastic about making posters and announcing to the school what ‘Hats for Haiti’ is about,” Mrs. Anderson said. “They are the greatest group of sixth graders ever!”
All graphics, photographs, and text appearing on the Huntington Public Schools home page and subsequent official web pages are protected by copyright. Redistribution or commercial use is prohibited without express written permission. Comments or Questions? email the Public Information Office