Toy Drive Supports Local Women's Shelter

Students, teachers, and parents at Greene Street Friends School worked together to donate more than 200 toys to the children residing with their mothers at Women Against Abuse (WAA), an emergency shelter in Philadelphia for women and children fleeing domestic violence. The shelter for battered women and their children houses approximately 60 children at any one time. In these difficult economic times, the kids at the shelter have been affected harder than most, fleeing their homes for a safe haven, often with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.

Last year Greene Street Friends School’s Parents Association successfully coordinated the school's first toy drive for WAA. This year’s parent team – Marcy Gialdo, Stacey Ferraro, and Melissa Rooney –  wanted to find a way to get Greene Street’s children more involved in the spirit of giving in what can often feel like a consumer driven holiday season. Marcy Gialdo, parent of Kindergartner, Olivia Gialdo, stated, “We wanted to connect the students to this year’s holiday drive by giving them a role in the process. They may not be the ones who actually bought the presents, but they can still feel like they were helping by wrapping a gift or making a greeting card. It’s important for children to realize the impact that each person can have, no matter how young.”

This year second grade teacher, Katie Portela, and fifth grade teacher, Beth Duffy, offered their classrooms as drop off sites. Second graders and fifth graders created holiday cards and worked together to wrap the gifts. Under the guidance of sixth grade teacher, Kiri Harris; TORCH, the Middle School student government team, promoted the event, decorated the drop off boxes and wrapped gifts.

Second grade student Anne Shipley enjoyed wrapping the gifts along with her classmates. She noted, “I think it was important because if we did not do it, they [the children at the shelter] would have been sad and bored, especially the younger kids, and it is hard to be poor when you are a younger kid.”

The Parents Association Holiday Giving team hopes to not only turn this toy drive into an annual event but to expand the project into a year-long program, turning the traditional season of giving into year-long seasons of giving.