Wareham students team up for Harvey relief effort
Sep 20, 2017
Aaliyana Black, Oliver Gakidis and Ambur Rose carry a box of items to donate. BY LYDIA GOERNER
Students from all Wareham schools spent the last two weeks collecting and packing items to help those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.
The response from students, faculty and staff was huge, said Wareham Middle School Principal Peter Steedman. Each homeroom was assigned a category of items to bring so a variety of items would be donated.
“There’s been nothing like this response, where you have the entire school involved,” Steedman said.
Non-perishable food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, school supplies and items for infants were all collected by students from the elementary, middle and high schools.
The collection began on Sept. 6 and ended Wednesday. Donations will be sent to the Houston Food Bank, Star of Hope Mission and Katy School District for survivors of Hurricane Harvey. Collecting the items taught students valuable lessons, said Col. Matt Stanton, senior instructor for JROTC at the high school.
“The kids were in charge of organizing, collecting and consolidating the items, and they did the communicating with nonprofits in Houston,” Stanton said.
The Wareham High School Key Club, which has 32 members, led the donation effort, particularly Alana Nicoletti, Stanton said. Nicoletti, who is in 11th grade, has cousins in Houston. She contacted Soft as a Grape to ask for help and the business volunteered to pay for shipping the items and is donating boxes to pack the items. Stanton said the donations will be in the mail Monday.
The Key Club wanted to collect plenty of school supplies, backpacks and books to send since the school year is starting, said Key Club officer Renneana Dillen. Baby Point, a nonprofit in Wareham, donated bags of items for infants.
On Wednesday, students at Wareham Middle School hauled boxes and bags full of items to be shipped to Texas.
“I feel bad because they’re losing and going through so much,” said Ambur Rose, a middle school student who donated canned foods.
“They have nothing left and we have so much,” said middle school student Aaliyana Black.
Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood said the students deserve to be recognized for their efforts.
"We're very proud of their spirit of helping others," Shaver-Hood said.
Aaliyana Black, Oliver Gakidis and Ambur Rose carry a box of items to donate. BY LYDIA GOERNER
Wareham Middle School students donated items from Sept. 6 to send to Texas. BY LYDIA GOERNER
Middle school student Indiana Troupe handles a bag of donations. BY LYDIA GOERNER
Wareham Middle School students finish loading donations into the car. BY LYDIA GOERNER
Alana Nicoletti, Ruth Gonzalez and Renneana Dillen, part of the Wareham High School Key Club, helped organize efforts to send donations to Houson. BY LYDIA GOERNER
Non-perishable foods, snacks, toiletries and school supplies were among the necessities donated. BY LYDIA GOERNER
Toys and items for children and infants were donated by Wareham nonprofit Baby Point. BY LYDIA GOERNER
