Irvington MS Students Receive Thanks For Hurricane Relief Efforts

IRVINGTON, NY — Irvington Middle School students and their French teacher Deanna Tessler recently received a letter and picture from the students of Eliane Clarke Elementary School which is located on the island of St. Martin, thanking them for their generosity. The students — who are members of the French Club at the middle school under Tessler’s guidance — donated a variety of school supplies to the elementary school that was severely impacted by Hurricane Irma.

“We held a week of schoolwide celebrations for French Week and all proceeds were donated to hurricane relief,” Tessler said. “The French Club students identified several organizations to assist and this school was one of five organizations they donated to.”

The students raised a total of $3,000 and decided to donate $600 to the Houston Independent School District for Hurricane Harvey relief, $600 to the Hispanic Federation’s Unidos: Disaster Relief and Recovery for Puerto Rico and $600 to the United Way of Miami-Dade for Hurricane Irma relief. With the remaining funds, they purchased books, paper, scissors, crayons, pencils and markers for the Eliane Clarke Elementary School, as well as classroom posters, pencils, paper and beginning readers books for the St. Martin Primary School on the island of Dominica, and shipped the items to each school.

“I want to thank you warmly because the school life in St. Martin is always very difficult,” wrote Frederick Peuron, director of the Eliane Clarke Elementary School. “Life in general is still very complicated and very slow. This material will allow us to finish the year more serenely.”

Tessler said this was the 15th year that Irvington Middle School has celebrated French Week. As a way to honor the students’ efforts at the start of the new school year, she will share the picture and thank-you letter that she received from the group of students in St. Martin.

“I love that it’s become a tradition to celebrate the French language and culture and to help those in need,” she added. “We usually donate to Doctors Without Borders for French Week, but the French Club students voted unanimously to help victims of the hurricanes. I’m so proud of how much time and effort they dedicate to our celebrations.”

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Photo caption: Students from the Eliane Clarke Elementary School, which is located on the island of St. Martin, are pictured with the school supplies that Irvington Middle School students and teacher Deanna Tessler donated to them. Photo credit: Irvington Union Free School District.