SSMS students give to Bethany House

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Two South Side Middle School eighth graders decided to make Bethany House, a shelter for homeless women and children on Long Island, the beneficiary of their community service project.

Brook Brown and Andrea Ellman were guided by their mentor, Nicole Conneally, a SSMS social studies teacher and head of the History Club, who opened their eyes to Bethany House having volunteered there. The two girls were able to collect much-needed food items and toiletries, as well as hundreds of dollars from bake sales and soliciting on behalf of Bethany House. On June 17, the two took the goods to Bethany House South, in Baldwin, to drop off the items and get a tour of the house. 

“After doing some research and learning more from a FIOS 1 TV story about Bethany House, Andrea and I became very passionate about the cause,” Brown said. “Donations from classmates during lunchtime, a bake sale, The SSMS History Club and some generous neighbors. When we arrived with everything that we collected, Penny, a volunteer for Bethany House, gave us a tour. It was a great experience and it opened our eyes to how we could help our community. I would love to volunteer there again.”

“I really love Bethany House, and I’m looking forward to doing more things with them in the future,” said Ellman. “The work my friend Brooke and I did together started out as something small. I didn’t imagine us collecting as much as we did. We were hoping for a few donations from our school and ended up raising a couple of hundred dollars, including more than three cases of canned food and a carton of toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc., that were donated by Aggie’s Market & Kitchen in Point Lookout. Helping like this really opened my eyes to how much of a difference two eighth graders can make in their community in only a month!”