Memorial's Kindness, Caring & Compassion

Amy Griswald of the United Parish Food Pantry and Nipmuc teacher David Antonelli address the Memorial Student body during Friday's assembly

The Memorial Elementary School community is teaching its students in a very real way that charity begins at home.

It is with this spirit that the school kicked off its latest fundraiser, one that hopefully will raise some much-needed resources for the United Parish Food Pantry in Upton.

The concept is simple:  During Wednesday through Friday of this week, all Memorial students are asked to bring in spare change to donate to their class donation can.  On Friday afternoon, Memorial students can wind the day down by relaxing anywhere in the building (gymnasium, hallways, etc.) with their favorite book.  Meanwhile, Principal Deb Swain will tabulate the final tally and will announce which classroom raised the most money for the pantry.

Significantly, all shopping for the food pantry will be done by students in Nipmuc's STAR (Success Through Alternative Resources) Program.  Program teacher David Antonelli will supervise this effort. As a key component of the program is teaching students key life skills, this partnership is a win-win for all involved.

This initiative is part of Memorial's Rachel's Challenge Program, as evidenced by the flourishing Kindness, Caring & Compassion Club.  The school has done some fine work in this area, as all specialists in the school teach carefully-crafted lessons on making good choices and pro-social behaviors to all students.  Memorial's 4th grade teachers and students are spearheading this partnership with United Parish and the Nipmuc students.

Credit is also due to the Memorial PTO, who not only wants to promote a love of reading but clearly sees the importance of connecting with the community.  As Principal Swain remarked, "The community has been so good to us, as evidenced by helping us with projects such as Box Tops for Education.  We want to continue to give back to the community and for our kids to see it in a first-hand way."

Keep up the fine work!

Memorial students intently listen to Principal Swain about the Food Pantry fundraiser