Dix Hills, NY - December 19, 2017 - Students of all ages in the Half Hollow Hills Central School District have been busy fundraising and collecting toys and necessities to help local families in need have a happy holiday season. In many of the buildings, toy drives were held to support the U.S. Marine Corp’s Toys for Toys charity which delivers the gifts to less fortunate youngsters in the community.
75 student members of the Key Clubs at both Half Hollow Hills High School East & West joined forces with the Kiwanis Club of Huntington to fundraise so they could take local children in need on a shopping trip to Target, where the children picked out clothes that they needed. This year the clubs raised an extra $550 which meant that each child could also pick out one toy to go with their clothing. After the shopping trip, the students invited the children back to High School East where they hosted a pizza and gift-wrapping party that included a special visit from Santa Claus.
Students in the first and fourth grades at Sunquam Elementary School used their holiday celebrations as a way to give back to others who are less fortunate. They invited their parents in to the parties, where the first graders decorated winter scarfs that were donated to visitors of the Mercy Inn soup kitchen in Wyandanch, and the fourth graders decorated picture frames and wrote holiday greetings for residents at the Atria Nursing Home in Huntington.
Two students at Candlewood Middle School, Ashley Kalb and Morgan Mandel, noticed that many charities target toys for young children around the holidays, and instead wanted to do something to bring smiles to the faces of teens that have to spend the holidays in the hospital. As part of their “Teen Project” they helped raise over $3,000 in gift cards for the Charlie’s Champions Foundation to distribute to teens at the Cancer Center for Kids at the NYU Winthrop Hospital Cancer Center.
“Each year I am so proud to see the many student-led initiatives to give back to those less fortunate around the holidays,” said Dr. Patrick Harrigan, superintendent of schools in Half Hollow Hills. “These special programs and the students who direct them highlight the core values we believe in at Half Hollow Hills.”
These donation programs represent only a small selection of the many ways students in all nine buildings of Half Hollow Hills are giving back to the community this holiday season.
ABOUT HALF HOLLOW HILLS
An education-oriented community with high academic expectations, the Half Hollow Hills Central School District is located in a residential area of 50,000 people in the central part of Long Island, approximately 40 miles from New York City. Providing for the education of more than 8,000 students, the school district has five elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools. Half Hollow Hills High Schools are fully accredited by the New York State Department of Education and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The District is committed to providing students opportunities to excel in academics, athletics, and the arts.