Gifts of Love is located on Rt. 44 in Avon.

C.A.R.E.S.  stands for Community Assistance Run by Eager Students.  The kids in Room 209 have shown an interest in helping out their community, and that’s certainly an attitude that I want to reinforce.  Our class has developed a relationship with a local charity called Gifts of Love.  As explained on their website, “Gifts of Love provides basic needs - food, clothing, furniture, household items, energy assistance - to people in the Greater Hartford area.”  Most of our efforts have been targeted at supporting this organization’s great work.

Our school is working hard to raise money for a much-needed new playground, and parents have been very supportive in donating to this cause.  Because the parents have been repeatedly solicited for donations this year, the kids and I agreed that we wanted to try to find a fundraising strategy that didn’t require parents to open up their wallets.

In April 0f 2009, students (then third graders in Room 201) kicked off the program by having the option to “donate their prizes” at the end of the week.  Throughout the school day, students work to earn “chances” – recognition of their hard work in school.  On Friday, I randomly draw names from the chance bin, and students who have earned more chances have a greater likelihood of having their name drawn.  Normally students whose names are pulled out are invited to take a prize.  However, as part of the C.A.R.E.S. project, many students have chosen to “donate their prize”  by asking me to personally donate one dollar to Gifts of Love – the amount that I normally spend on a prize for the prize box – instead of taking a prize for themselves.

In May of 2009, we started our most ambitious funraising effort to date.  We recruited the support of the whole school to help collect recyclable cans and bottles that can be redeemed for $0.05 at the supermarket.  (This idea came from an ambitious project that one of my students led in 2008, where she collected cans with the goal of raising money for rainforest preservation.)  Parents have been wonderfully supportive of our efforts and have filled up a large collection box (the kind used to transport new appliances) on several occasions.  Student volunteers have done a great job gloving up and sorting the cans.  I take them to be redeemed once we have a few big trash bags full.  We have raised over $250 through this effort (as of July, 2010) and while that may not sound like much, $250 translates to 5,000 cans  and bottles.

This is a program that I intend to support as long as there is student interest.  Parents and community members are always welcome to drop off more cans and bottles.