Knollwood School Student Council Performs Many Good Deeds for Those in Need

If the success levels of this year's fundraisers are a reliable indicator, the phrase "Charity begins at home" could easily be changed to "Charity begins at Knollwood School".

Student Council members at the school located in Fair Haven have organized and participated in endeavors benefitting a number of worthy causes.

Most recently, the Student Council Auction -- a yearly event at which students in fourth through eighth grades purchase bid tickets for a prize raffle in order to raise funds for a chosen cause -- was paired with a book drive to increase the service aspect for participating students.

As an incentive to elicit the large possible number of donated books, students received a prize bid ticket for each new or gently used children's or young adult title donated. After being sorted by genre and age level, the books were utilized in an Earth Day swap organized by the Fair Haven Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and held at the school on April 22. 

Books that were not swapped during the Earth Day event were donated to the non-profit, all-volunteer Bridge of Books Foundation. The books were then delivered by PTA volunteers to a Bridge of Books facility for use in a South Jersey reading program whose inventory was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

Another highly successful event held at Knollwood was the recent collection of small stuffed animals, toys and crayons. These items were included in 100 Easter Baskets delivered to St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Long Branch for distribution to local children in need.

Earlier in the year, the Knollwood Student Council also achieved the following  --

• Bake sales held at the school in October and January that resulted in donations of $100 each to the Seaside Heights Volunteer Fire Department (in the wake of the September boardwalk fire) and to the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)

• A November bake sale resulting in a gift of $100 to the Emmanuel Cancer Society, as well as a winter outerwear drive in November resulting in hats, gloves, and scarves being distributed to homeless teens

• A donation of $150 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (Pennies for Patients) raised by a "Movie Madness" event held in December

"It's been an honor to be able to work with so many great organizations this year," said Student Council Advisor and seventh-grade Literacy teacher Leigh-Anne Hawkins. "It makes me excited when the students can really see the wonderful effects of their efforts."

An upcoming endeavor for the Student Council is participation in the Community Food Drive organized by Lunch Break, a charity located in Red Bank and dedicated to providing the necessities of life -- food, clothing, and fellowship -- to those in need. This is the first time that the Knollwood Student Council has been invited to participate in the drive, which has the goal of collecting 50,000 pounds of food in the local area by May 17. The Knollwood students will be organizing a food drive at the school in order to help Lunch Break reach this goal.

Student Council President Emily Laughinghouse and Vice President Dana Elderhorst, both eighth graders at Knollwood, say that they have gained a valuable learning experience through the fundraising events.

"I realize how fortunate we are to have the ability to help our community, and also to have the experience of volunteering," said Emily. 

"It is nice that we were able to assist so many people who live locally and were impacted by Hurricane Sandy," Dana added.