Port Reading School's 2nd Graders Raise $4K for Charity

It's the stuff of which dreams are made.

Throw a pie at a teacher, duct tape your school principal, or just wear the wildest hairdo you can imagine, and not get in trouble for it.

That was part of a series of events that second graders put together for the entire school to join in as part of their 'Community of Caring' class project.

In the midst of doing something different every day, the school's 55 second grade students had a goal of $2,000 to raise for the 'Relay Recess,' a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

The daily events, which culminated in a big Relay Day, were so popular, the school not only met their $2K goal, but doubled it: they raised $4,000 in a two-week period for their cause.

Second grade teachers Kelli Schaefer, Megan McDonald, Gina DiTursi, and Erica Perez, all joined in to make it happen. The fundraising events were open to the school's 400 students.

"Every grade level has to do a service learning project," said Schaefer. In past years, the school has taken on raising money for the the Lupus Foundation, , St. Jude's Mathathon, and other worthy causes.

This year, the second graders took on the Relay for Life - or Relay Recess, as they worked it - as their project.

The teachers came up with a variety of stunts and events that captured the kids' imaginations or tempted their tummies. 

"We had 'Kiss Away Cancer', where we sold Hersey's Kisses for 25 cents each," Schaefer said. 

Then there was 'Shade Out Cancer', where for a dollar, a student could wear a hat or sunglasses in school all day long. 

The big attention getters, though, included a chance to duct tape the school's principal to the wall.

"For every $2 they brought in, they got a strip of duct tape," Schaefer said. 

The school's principal, John Bader, "stood on two chairs, and all the kids started taping him. By the end, he was stuck to the wall," Schaefer said.

"One of the kids, on the way out, said, 'See you later, bye!"

The pièce de resistance, she said, was when the teachers plopped a Yankees baseball cap on Bader's head.

"He's a big Mets fan," Schaefer laughed said of the principal, who was truly a good sport.

Students who raised more than $100 had a rare treat. About 20 students had a chance to throw a whipped cream pie at one of teacher volunteers, as a reward for their fundraising.

About 15 teachers got pies right in the kisser.

"I could smell the whipped cream in my wedding ring," Schaefer laughed.

Other fundraising projects included 'Guess the Teacher's Baby Picture' contest, where every day, the teachers would give a few more clues for kids to pick which picture went with which teacher.

"That lasted for a week. A fourth grader won a gift card to Rita's Italian Ice," Schaefer said. "She was thrilled."

On Crazy Hair Day, students could do anything they wanted to their hair - with parental approval - and wear it to school that way all day for a dollar. "Braids, mohawks, hair all different colors," Schaefer laughed.

Then speech teacher Carol Hogrebe made two handmade fleece blankets that raised $400 in a raffle. The coveted blankets were won by a lucky kindergartener and a third grader.

All this merriment reached a fever pitch with Relay Day, Schaefer said.

"We set up all different stations around the school, with scooter racing, dodge ball, jump rope, all activities that included exercise and were good for your health," she said.  Each class went to one of the 15 different stations and changed every 10 minutes, as the gym teacher blew a horn as a signal to switch.

The fundraising thermometer in the school - a graphic aid to show how well the school was doing in its efforts to reach $2,000 - soon blew through the top when they doubled their projected goal.

"It was a lot of fun," Schaefer said.