Home

Due to the annual "Thanks and Giving" program at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Monmouth County, community service is not just a requirement for students, but a labor of love.

Before Thanksgiving at the school in Marlboro, each grade works on its own community project and presents it at a school-wide assembly. With help from their parents, who donate materials for a number of the projects, students from 1st through 8th grade learn the importance of tikun olam, repairing the world, at an early age.

"It's instinctive," 3rd grade teacher Leah Rosenberg, whose class organized a popcorn sale to benefit Magen David Adom, the Israeli Red Cross, said of Schechter students' desire to give back. "It's the basic tenet of the school that really gives them that work ethic."

By the time 8th grade students finished volunteering at Lunch Break Soup Kitchen in Red Bank, it was clear that they had developed that sort of work ethic. Students expressed how they initially thought tasks like sorting, packaging, and cleaning food would feel boring, but that they felt fulfilled when their work was done and 85 people in need were fed because of their efforts.

"You just get random jobs, but you know you are helping people, and it's fun," student Jason Epstein said.

"They left all that goofiness on the bus," Lucy Klinek, assistant head of school, said of her experience with the 8th graders at the soup kitchen.

In a particularly personal project, 4th graders, aware that a school family member has cancer, decorated baseball caps for children with cancer at the Ronald McDonald House. The students also raised money for Ronald McDonald by collecting tabs from soda cans and redeeming them.

Jessica O'Brien, a 4th grade teacher, said she chose the project because she thought "the kids could relate to the children" at Ronald McDonald.

Fifth graders brightened the spirits of children who will spend Thanksgiving in the Pediatric Emergency Ward of CentraState Hospital in Freehold by shaping large posters like flowers and writing inspirational words on each petal. They also eagerly donated coloring books and crayons to the sick children, with each student going beyond the call of duty by giving five or six books.

"Even if you are in the hospital and something is wrong with you, nobody should be forgotten," student Sawyer Malkin said.

In what they called the "Pajama Program," 1st graders donated warm sleepwear and nurturing books to children who were waiting to be adopted. Each child in need received pajamas and a book in a thoughtful package tied together by a ribbon.

Other projects included 2nd graders collecting items for Manna House, a women's shelter in Cliffwood Beach, 6th graders assisting with Thanksgiving preparations at the Sunrise Assisted Living facility that neighbors Schechter, and 7th graders wrapping holiday presents at Friendship Circle, a program for children with special needs.

Of selling popcorn to raise money for Magen David Adom, 3rd grader Danny Jarashow said, "It makes me feel proud, because it feels like I'm doing something, not just staying home and relaxing."

Klinek, in her second year at Schechter, also expressed considerable pride at the assembly, calling this the most emotional moment she has had so far during her time at the school.

"I'm just overwhelmed with the attitudes and the compassion that comes from these little guys," Klinek said.