A Bag of Love

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Sick children will be receiving a dose of love from seventh graders at East Meadow’s Woodland Middle School. Linda Greenbaum’s Home and Career classes have been enthusiastically working on a sewing project that will bring a smile to patients in the pediatrics unit at Nassau University Medical Center. The students created and decorated handmade drawstring bags filled with donated books and personal notes of encouragement and wishes of a speedy recovery written by the bag’s designer. Nurses at NUMC will be passing out the bags of books to children who are patients in the hospital, as well as to young children attending clinics. The roomful of seventh grade designers seemed to take great pride in their work and definitely understand the importance of giving back to the community. “Doing this project made me feel better about myself because I was making something for a kid in need,” said Jack. Heaven added, “Making this bag for the kids at the hospital who are less fortunate than us had a powerful impact on me because it reminded me to not take things for granted.” Lastly, Gabriella summed up the project by sharing, “I chose to decorate my bag with a heart because everyone needs love.”

Baking and Making a Difference

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The eighth graders in the Home and Career Skills classes at East Meadow’s Woodland Middle School are learning that hunger exists on Long Island. Using their cooking knowledge, and the skills they learn in class, they are on a mission to address that real need in the community. “Through this project, students are made aware of the fact that hunger does exist on Long Island. Most students are eager to help out and do community service, but many times they don’t know how to go about it,” shared their teacher Susan Carlsen.

Every quarter, a new group of students prepare, bake and package muffins for the Interfaith Nutrition Network (the INN), a soup kitchen in Hempstead. The package of muffins are placed on a tray of hot food the guests will receive, and, for many, it may be part of the only meal they will have for the day. Student Brooke M. said, “Making the muffins was a small thing to do, but it has a huge impact on someone who is hungry and we had fun doing it.” Kaylee W. added, “I love to cook and bake, so it was nice to use those skills to help people in need.”