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100 Days of Caring at Clinton’s Joel School

Students from the Lewin G. Joel School and representatives from eight different charities gathered for a Feb. 22 assembly at which the students presented the charities with donations they had collected as part of their 100th Day Celebration.

The 100th Day Celebration is an event the school has been holding for 10 years.

“Each classroom adopts a charity, and then the school reaches out to those charities to ask what items that charity needs,” Principal Claudia Norman explained.

Each class room collects 100 items. Norman said that the collection process takes about two to three weeks and is a voluntary event, though every student is encouraged to bring in something to be donated.

This year, the charities the students donated to were Forgotten Felines, Families Helping Families, Boxes for Soldiers, the Food for All Garden, the Joel School Nurse, the Shoreline Soup Kitchen, Little Miracles, and A Place Called Hope.

Norman said that when selecting charities, the school “tries to keep it in the community.” Given the different needs each organization serves, the items collected by the different classes might include diapers, or cat food, or cards for soldiers thanking them for their service.

For Norman, some of the importance of the event is instilling in young minds the importance of giving back.

“Since the kids we have are between four and nine years old, it’s really important to show them,” Norman said.

Norman said that in the 10 years the school has held the event, the response has been very positive.

“We receive thank you letters; people have tears in their eyes,” Norman said.

“I love that it shows the kids that it’s important to do positive things in the community,” said Cindy Stevens, who was at the assembly representing the Boxes for Soldiers charity.

Walking into the assembly, visitors were greeted by a welcoming committee of dancing 2nd graders and Assistant Principle Joe Macrino, who said, “This is my favorite day of the year—only second to the first day of school.”

At the assembly the students sang songs, and presented the charity representatives with decorated kindness rocks. Additionally, boxes upon boxes of the donations lined the halls of the school so that students passing by could grasp just how much material was donated.

“I’m so proud of every single one of you,” Norman told the students at the end of the assembly.