From spare change to hundreds of presents to tons of food, SDoL students of all ages, staff and families are sharing in the spirit of giving this holiday season.
Starting in November, service projects launched across the district. In a first this year, Wickersham Elementary third-grader Nyla Larue organized a 40-turkey giveaway for some of her classmates.
“I asked my mom if I could help the homeless and less fortunate on Thanksgiving because Thanksgiving is about being thankful and spending time with your family,” Nyla said in a speech about her project to the school board. “I was inspired by [her teacher] Mrs. Swinton’s Back-to-School Acts of Kindness.”
So Nyla asked David Gray, who owns the Lancaster gym TF Fitness, to donate 40 turkeys. Swinton and others on the Wickersham staff also chipped in to round out a full thanksgiving meal for 40 Wickersham families. The meals were distributed on Nov. 22.
“I love helping people,” Nyla said. “I am very thankful and happy!”
Here’s a roundup of a few more examples:
- SDoL Coat Drive: A district-wide effort to collect new or gently used winter coats for students in need this winter. Overall, district staff and families donated 1,232 coats. Reynolds Middle School won the friendly competition between district schools, collecting 275.
- 20th Annual Holiday Homeroom Challenge: A McCaskey tradition, students donated thousands of pounds of food to the Water Street Mission. Throughout its history, the homeroom challenge has collected more than 100,000 pounds of food for area food banks!
- Thanksgiving Canned Food Drive: Burrowes Elementary students collected nearly 500 cans of food for the Lancaster County Council of Churches.
- Random Acts of Kindness: In November, Wickersham Elementary students delivered household goods, school items, holiday decorations and other gifts to homes in the Wickersham community.
- Secret Angel Project: Reynolds Middle School, Rotary Club of Lancaster, Islamic Community Center and Millersville University collaborated to fill 130 secret angel holiday bags for Reynolds students.
- King Angel Tree: Faculty and staff raised money to purchase a gift for every student at King Elementary. Gifts were distributed to families over two days in December.
- Deck the Halls Fundraiser: The National Elementary and National Junior Honor Societies from E.R. Martin School raised over $113 dollars for the purchase of warm items for local shelters.
- Help for House Fire: Phoenix Academy students and staff raised over $300 for the family of two Phoenix students who lost everything in a house fire.
- Extraordinary Give: Community donors gave more than $23,000 to the Lancaster Education Foundation during the annual Extraordinary Give, benefiting scholarships, teacher grants and classroom programs.
“‘Together we can’ is more than just a slogan in the School District of Lancaster,” SDoL superintendent Dr. Damaris Rau said. “Our students and staff prove that we are a community that supports each other—especially at this time of year.”