The students at Barnum Woods Elementary School prepared an enormous donation of 1,019 boxes of cereal for the people of East Meadow and beyond.
The proceeds from the challenge went to several recipients: Long Island Cares picked up 600 boxes of cereal on Feb. 13, and with the remainder going towards the Veterans Food Pantry at the Nassau University Medical Center, as well as the local parishes St. Martha’s, St. Raphael’s and St. Bridgette’s.
“(We have) lots and lots of boxes of cereal from them, it’s got to be over 50 or more,” said Anne Lederer, the director of St. Raphael’s Social Ministry, which includes the parish’s volunteer food pantry.
“They do it every year, and it’s really a great thing for the kids to see and do,” she continued. “The children choose cereal; they choose brands and cereal that other children would like. We have over 130 families that come in monthly, so it’s really helped out.”
Lederer encouraged East Meadow community members to continue caring for their neighbors by supporting similar programs.
“We need to continue donations from all parts of our community,” she said. “We’re very fortunate to have a lot of societies in our community and parish, and we need to let people know how thankful and appreciative we are of all they donate toward us.”
To celebrate the achievement, the students prepared a proper Barnum Woods send-off on Feb. 12 by setting up all of the boxes into an enormous domino display that, when toppled, sent ripples throughout the school’s longest hallways. The event was created by the East Meadow Kiwanis Club, a local division of the international nonprofit, which focuses on supporting education and developing the civic leadership skills of young people.
The K-Kids are one of the Kiwanis Club divisions designed for young people, in this case, elementary schoolers. K-Kids is led by Co-Presidents Stella Beck and Sky Brozgis, a pair of 10-year-olds. Beck detailed how the K-Kids worked on the event.
“We had a meeting with the principal (about) a lot of stuff — when we would knock down the cereal boxes and where everything would go,” she said. “We also had to decide how many we wanted to get and where to put everything, and we had to count them and where to donate them.”
In total, the students’ haul of donations exceeded last year’s total of 954 boxes and this year’s goal of 1,000 boxes — an effort rewarded with a visit from the school’s mascot, the Barnum Bobcat, on the day of the celebration.
Throughout the food drive, Barnum Woods’ student-led press team, Jacob Durso, 10, Michael Simmons, 9, helped motivate their classmates to give. The duo created podcasts and delivered school announcements daily, gaining experience with public speaking and motivating their peers to support the effort.
Brozgis welcomed the hundreds of her classmates who joined her in the halls to view the domino display.
“In the past month, as Barnum Woods focused on making ‘pawsitive’ choices, preparing to focus on the character trait of caring, we all helped spread care by collecting cereal boxes for those who need it,” she said.
Danielle Curcio’s 5th grade class brought in the most donations with 67 boxes. The winning class received four prizes: free homework passes, extended recess, an in-school field trip to the recycling club’s Caine’s Arcade, and a pajamas and snack party sponsored by School Principal Amanda Sagnelli.
Kiwanis Club Past President Melody Schiller also serves as a K-Kids advisor, guiding the students towards their goals while reinforcing the intended learning outcome of the exercise.
“This is such a huge event that is very memorable and fun for kids,” she said. “It really sticks in their heads when they’re thinking about their everyday choices… they’re able to go back to this wonderful memory and build on it and make kind choices every day.
“We have a lot of kids in the hospital, as well as feeding a lot of hungry families,” Schiller added. “When the kids see a need, they want to fill it.”
Kiwanis Club President Donna Goldstein, through the Kiwanis Club, donated 100 cereal boxes to the K-Kids.
“We are so proud of them,” she said. “We gave them a challenge, and they rose to the occasion, and they’re really becoming great future leaders.”
