Huntington PTAs Ride to the Rescue
The wrath of Hurricane Sandy is still being felt across many metropolitan area communities. Huntington School District PTAs have been diligent in their work to help schools and students affected by the disaster brought on by severe winds and surging waters.
The Huntington High School Parent-Teacher-Student Association collected clothing during one of its meetings and delivered the items to families in need in the Rockaways and Coney Island.
The J. Taylor Finley Middle School PTA collaborated with the school’s student council, honor society and bookstore to collect school and cleaning supplies. The goods were donated to schools in Baldwin, Copiague and East Rockaway.
The Woodhull Intermediate School PTA worked with the school’s student council on a “stuff the bus” campaign. It involved stuffing a school bus full of donated clothing, cleaning supplies and non-perishable food items that were later delivered to Island Harvest.
The Washington Primary School PTA adopted several grades at Rockwood Park School-P.S. 207 Howard Beach, Queens. Schools in New Hampshire and Illinois adopted other grade levels at Rockwood Park., which has not been utilized since the storm. The damaged school’s oil burner was ruined by flooding, along with a large amount of classroom equipment. Washington PTA members have been helping with the collection of school supplies and assorted items to help Rockwood Park provide a suitable educational experience for its students.
The Flower Hill School PTA collected and distributed nearly 300 toiletry kits to Long Beach High School students. Flower Hill youngsters created cards and wrote letters for the students of West Elementary School in Long Beach. The Flower Hill PTA also collected almost $500 worth of books from the Scholastic book fair, as well as gently used books to donate to West Elementary School.
The Southdown Primary School PTA adopted Harding Avenue Elementary School in Lindenhurst. More than 100 families out of about 220 at the school were displaced by Hurricane Sandy. A toy drive was organized and the gifts were delivered by a Southdown teacher. Southdown youngsters helped by performing various chores around their houses and then purchasing Home Depot gift cards with the money they had earned.
The Jefferson Primary School PTA teamed up with its Huntington High School counterpart to collect and donate school and cleaning supplies and books to adopted schools in the Rockaways and Coney Island.
The massive PTA effort involved every Huntington school as well as countless students, parents and teachers. “The PTA Council is coordinating book donations for a school that had damage to their libraries,” said Bari Fehrs, president of the Huntington PTA Council. “The collection will continue through January 25. So far, several of our schools have joined in this effort and collected books.”
Many metropolitan area families remain displaced by the storm and thousands of students have been unable to return to their normal school routines. Their lives have been made a little more bearable thanks to the generosity of the Huntington PTAs and school community.
“As you can see, everyone was ready to pitch in, even as their own families were without electricity, heat and television,” Mrs. Fehrs said. “The PTAs in Huntington have been eager to help schools and communities that had fared much worse than our town. I’m very proud of all their efforts and feel blessed to be able to help.”