On November 23, the day before Thanksgiving break, Hilton's Merton Williams Middle School students on the Delta 8 Team spread out around the community to not just understand thankfulness, but to live it. The Delta 8 Team of teachers, Jennifer Jordan, Courtney Holzschuh, Daena Ford, Anastasia Stamoulacatos, Dave Miller, Leah Woodmancy and teachers aide Glenda Williams, planned a day of opportunities for students to make a difference, to take caring to the next level. Students had the option of going to the Hilton Food Shelf, the Women's Care Center, St. Joseph's House of Hospitality, Catholic Charities, Braddock Bay Raptor Research, the Open Door Mission or staying in the district - helping library media specialist sort, box and move to the new MW Library; participate in a Read/Walk-A-Thon for the Society for the Protection and Care of Children's Teddy Bear Project; or being part of "Random Acts of Kindness" within the school itself. The event was part of a interdisciplinary unit, "Utopia: How to Make the World a Better Place." Among the good deeds performed: 11 students worked with Mrs. Ford to take care and feed education raptors for Braddock Bay Raptor Research. "Students took on various jobs including weighing out mice for the birds to eat," Mrs. Ford said, "scrubbing walls and water dishes, raking gravel and providing the turkey vulture with some pumpkin treats." Students who visited the St. Joseph's House of Hospitality in Rochester helped out setting the table for a meal. Students also helped stock the food pantry at Hilton's Food Shelf and fill Thanksgiving bags at Catholic Charities. In addition, "Read/Walk-A-Thon" pledges in the amount of $1,333.24 were collected for the "Teddy Bear Project" to purchase toys and make a cash donation for clients of the Society for the Protection and Care of Children. |
