Project Adventure Classes Care
Kim Damore's Project Adventure classes at Huntington High School always find a way to help others. It might be collecting clothes for the desperately poor in Haiti or winter coats for those struggling to stay warm or gathering school supplies for students from families unable to afford them.
Mrs. Damore is a physical education teacher with a conscience. Her students care about others. In the past, the Project Adventure group has teamed up with students from teacher Debbie Mellon's Participation in Government classes and produced some impressive results.
One in a series of initiatives saw students collecting and sending much needed supplies to US soldiers in Iraq. "We collected a huge amount of stuff," Mrs. Damore said.
Two years ago then senior Chris Sandoval helped spearhead the collection of clothes for earthquake victims in Haiti. "Students hung signs all over the school encouraging the donation of clothes," Mrs. Damore said. One student said that while victims were in vital need of help, they still wanted to maintain their dignity so humanitarians went about their business in an especially gentle manner.
Three truckloads of clothes were driven away from Huntington High School and eventually shipped to the impoverished Caribbean country. The young people in that poor land slipped on donated Huntington Athletics t-shirts and sent photos back to Long Island.
The Haitian people sent a bag they hand weaved, along with a touching note of thanks. "Words cannot express our gratitude to you, your parents and the Huntington community," stated the letter. "All of you are forever engraved in our hearts. The lesson we learned from the students [are] love, caring, community, will never be forgotten."
Year after year, the Huntington Project Adventure students seem to be especially attuned to the less fortunate and more than willing to pitch in and make a difference.