Giving Extends Beyond the Classroom in Lawrence

Editor's Note: The following news release was contributed by .

This holiday season found students and staff throughout the district reaching out to our community and beyond.

Prior to the Dec. 12 Board of Education meeting, Lawrence Township Education Association (LTEA) members congregated with Santa in the high school parking lot and accepted members' donations of food and toys to be given to those in need.

Check out these acts of caring and kindness:

Holiday Mail for Heroes

Over 700 greeting cards were lovingly created since the beginning of December by our students from kindergarten to Grade 6. Technology teachers Karen Rubinstein, Linda Miller and Katie Horniacek led the project.

Guided by their teachers, students made both hand-crafted and computer-created cards with holiday sentiments of appreciation for our service people who are risking their lives and sacrificing time with their families during this holiday season.

The cards were bundled and shipped to the annual American Red Cross "Holiday Mail for Heroes" program where they will be dispersed and distributed overseas to our military. One student even constructed a paper ship designed to take the troops home for the holidays. Priceless.

Lawrence Intermediate School

The Lawrence Intermediate School Student Council collected six large laundry baskets of food for HomeFront families at Thanksgiving.

LIS staff participated in the LTEA "Toys for Tots" collection.

LIS Team 4A collected spare change to supply holiday gifts to a HomeFront family.

The sixth-grade teachers held a lunchtime holiday book exchange. The teachers pulled names of other teachers and purchased children’s books reflecting their colleague’s personality. After guessing who purchased everyone’s books and why, they donated the books as holiday gifts to the LIS students attending the Every Child Valued After-School Program.

Looking ahead to the Super Bowl, make that the Souper Bowl of Caring

On Sunday, Feb. 5, 140 million Americans will tune into the Super Bowl football game. There will be food and fun for many people watching the game. At the same time, there will be Lawrence families struggling to feed their kids for the day.

This year, LIS is joining groups across America to do its part. Students and staff were asked to bring non-perishable food items to LIS before Feb. 3. The collection will be donated directly to the Lawrence Community Center to help neighbors in need.

To date, LIS families have donated 750 cans of food! That's Souper!

Lawrence Middle School

The Lawrence Middle School staff adopted a Thanksgiving family and provided food and clothing for the family.

The LMS Student Council sponsored a Thanksgiving Canned Food Drive and donated food the students provided to HomeFront.

LMS staff donations provided 25 student gift cards of $25 each for the holidays.

LMS students , and LMS students made holiday cards for Lawrence residents who participate in the center’s activities.

Lawrence High School

The Lawrence High School Student Council led the "Christmas Wish" Program sponsored by HomeFront.

For this project, HomeFront provided needs of area children (as identified by number and children's gender, age, wishes, and sizes) who could use some assistance.

LHS departments, teams or organizations (Math, DECA, Operation Smile, National Honor Society, Student Council, girls’ basketball, student leadership) as well as individuals sponsored the families. The outpouring of support filled half a HomeFront truck when the items were picked up.

Student Council also sponsored a coat drive, which became a competition between the Freshman and Sophomore Academies. (The Freshman Academy won.) Several hundred coats were collected, sorted and given to Dr. DeMarco, a parent, in mid-December.