[New Jersey] Poverty lesson turns into action to help needy

from The Newark Star Ledger

At the Forest Avenue School in Glen Ridge, students read books, held discussion sessions, watched videos and sang songs as they learned about hunger, homelessness and poverty issues affecting people around the world.

During their school's first-ever World Poverty Awareness Week, the school's 280 students raised awareness by wearing T-shirts designed by second-graders Julia Lawson and Isabel Leccese. They also collected change, using second-grader Evan Michigan's slogan, "If you care, you can spare," and got their parents involved in raising money, too.

The week of community service was organized by parents in the Forest Avenue Home School Association, whose members used materials from UNICEF and Save the Children to educate students about issues affecting children around the world.

Students learned about homelessness, the need for sanitary water, the cycle of poverty and ways to help others through donations of food and livestock. "You want to get them on the road to thinking," said parent Chrysa Lawson, who helped organize the activities along with parents Ann Leccese and Patricia Doyle.

Lawson said students talked about problems of poverty and thought of solutions during classroom lessons and quickly showed empathy and understanding toward others. "Parents would come up to me and say, 'My kids are coming home and telling me these stories,'" Lawson recalled.

Parents pitched in by buying poker chips in the hopes of winning a gift massage or personal training session and the students got support from Principal Deborah Fitzpatrick, school nurse Janice Loschiavo and second-grade teacher Trish Ganjamie.

When the week was over, Lawson said the school raised nearly $4,000 to donate to UNICEF and Save the Children. Commerce Bank counted the change for the children and a representative from UNICEF came to the school to collect a mock check.

Lawson said students applauded loudly when they were told they'd helped make a difference in the lives of children around the world. She said parents hope to make the charitable project an annual event.

SPIRIT OF CLEANLINESS
The church pews and sanctuary floor were shiny and the kitchenette in the fellowship hall was sparkling after parishioners at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Verona held a cleanup day in early April.

Virginia Citrano, a member of the church vestry, said volunteers came to the cleanup day with vacuum cleaners, rakes, cleaning supplies and bags of mulch. They raked out ornamental shrubs and flower beds, spread mulch over the gardens and spruced up the church's memorial garden, which was dedicated last fall.

"It was great, grown-ups were interacting with kids and kids were interacting with some of the older parishioners," said Citrano.

It wasn't just the adults who volunteered, but 15 children also got involved. Three-year-old Eliza Dure dusted the pews and other students mopped floors and raked leaves. Adult volunteers, including 86-year-old Robert Sylvester, did other chores -- including pruning spring flowers and trimming boxwood hedges that mark the church's new memorial garden. The garden is used for the interment of ashes and as a place of meditation on the church grounds.

"This is our community ... We have a sense of pride and ownership," she said.

Citrano said volunteers come out twice a year to do a thorough cleaning of the church buildings and to spruce up the grounds. It's a way that parishioners give back to the church with their time. "You don't give back just monetarily ... Everybody pitches in."

But it wasn't all hard work, she said. After the cleanup was done, Citrano said the volunteers took a rest and enjoyed a pizza lunch together. However, they took care not to dirty the kitchenette, which had just gotten a good scrubbing. "Everything smelled so good and fresh," she said.