Chatham children's giving spirit: Student-led toy drive will benefit Mass Appeal
At lunch on Friday, a group of Chatham fourth-graders stood before their classmates to ask that they join in the season’s spirit of giving.
Earlier this month, the students approached Chatham Elementary School Principal Jennifer Kelly to ask for her help in organizing a charity event that would benefit people in need.
“There were seven girls, so they were throwing out a million ideas,” Kelly said.
The brainstorming eventually gusted the group towards the concept of a toy drive.
“We were looking through a community resource list and found Mass Appeal and saw they accepted gently used and new toys to distribute,” Kelly said. “We gave them a phone call to see if that would be something they’d be interested in and they were completely thrilled.”
On Thursday evening, the girls — Londyn Ball, Kaylee Isner, Raegan Pazakis, Marloe Riker, Stella Roy, Brady Malloy and Ilea Zawicki — went home to make flyers and draft the pitch they would make to their classmates at lunch the following day. They had a big ask.
“We are trying to really encourage our students to be the ones to donate, because it’s toys,” Kelly said. “We talked about how many people have toys at home and then we asked them how many of you have toys that you don’t play with that could go somewhere else. So we’re really trying to make the focus not that parents are going out and purchasing things, but that the kids are really taking stock of what they have and what they can share with somebody else ... Kind of that Toy Story 3 moment, if you will, where the toys get a second life.”
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The girls’ classmates loved the idea, and began peppering them with questions, Kelly said. One child asked whether stuffed animals could be donated, prompting a group discussion about how it would be better to give newer rather than older stuffed animals to kids in need.
“They were really thoughtful, and every single student had really appropriate questions, like, 'Can we bring baby toys?'” Kelly said. “A lot of times when we do food drives or clothing drives, that’s parent-related. The adults in their lives are making all the decisions. This is something they have ownership over, and we are really about trying to get the kids to have ownership over their learning and just in everything that they do, that they can really have an impact.”
The school aims to collect 200 gently used or new toys from Dec. 12 to Dec. 16. Then, on Dec. 19, the girls will travel with Kelly to deliver the holiday haul to Mass Appeal, a Wellfleet-based nonprofit that supplies clothing, linens, towels, books and more to Cape families in need.
Mass Appeal Executive Director Jessica Greenberg, who stepped into the role this month, said the generosity of the children from Chatham will ease the strain on families struggling to make ends meet during a tough time of year.
“Mass Appeal was created by two single moms and it was because there was a need for it,” Greenberg said Friday. “It frees up money for mothers and fathers to spend on other essentials like rent and food and electricity and gas and car payments. Regular life. Band-Aids. Tylenol. When you take away the anxiety of being able to provide that out of your own wages for your family and that no longer exists as an expense, it frees up so much mental headspace.”
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The news that parents can also find toys for their children at Mass Appeal this holiday season is a major relief for many families, she added.
“I have already expressed to families that we will be having a delivery of toys and they are just ecstatic,” Greenberg said. “They are filled with joy. I know there is gratitude on the parents’ part. This community of giving, around the holidays, it just explodes.”
As the mother of two fourth-grade girls who have also found meaning in philanthropy, Greenberg said, the giving spirit of the students from Chatham was heart-warming, but not unexpected.
“I see more goodness in children than I’ve ever seen in adults, so it’s not surprising that children want to care for other children, especially the children on the Cape,” she said. “They’re a small community and they want to take care of each other. It seems obvious to me that’s how these children are being raised.”
Contact Jeannette Hinkle at jhinkle@capecodonline.com.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Chatham kids rally school and community children for toy drive
