The Hilton School District and many community agencies recently joined together to sponsor the Sixth Annual Make a Difference Day. The largest national day of helping others through volunteerism, Make a Difference Day is always held the fourth Saturday in October.
Hilton students were involved in projects throughout the community, including: collecting electronics for recycling; sorting and collecting food for Hilton-Parma Food Shelf; building a bullpen and pitcher’s mound at Schwonke Field; beautifying the school grounds and Braddock’s Bay Park; helping residents of the Hilton Park Apartments get ready for winter; and visiting and doing activities with residents at Hilton East.
“I feel like it really helps make a difference in people’s lives,” said Sam Melita, a sophomore and Student Council president who spent the morning sorting donated food. “This is my first year volunteering, but everyone I talked to said they had a good time doing it in past years.”
A group of volunteers worked at St. George’s Episcopal Church making a community garden and raised garden. The community garden will be planted in the spring and fresh produce will be donated to the Hilton-Parma Food Shelf. “It’s important to provide healthy, fresh vegetables to those in need,” said Reverend Paul Frolick. Volunteers also built a table garden that can be used by people in wheelchairs.
In the Hilton High School cafeteria, students from Quest Elementary School participated in the Carnations for Patients project by making tissue paper flowers and vases. The project was inspired by Christine Pettrone, a 13-year leukemia survivor, and brings colorful flower arrangements to patients who cannot receive real flowers. Carnations for Patients has provided 1,800 flower arrangements to 3,000-4,000 patients over the past 10 years.
Volunteers gathered in the cafeteria at Hilton High School both before and after volunteering where they enjoyed breakfast and lunch donated by the Latta Road Wegmans store. They also took a few moments to write personal thank-you notes to our troops.
“This is an amazing opportunity to open doors for so many people,” said Brian Bartalo, Hilton High School principal. “Thank you for all of the community support we receive.”
For information about Make a Difference Day projects, events and sponsors in the Hilton community, visit http://makeadifferencedayhiltonparma.com. To see a slideshow and video of Make a Difference Day 2013, visit http://hilton.K12.ny.us/news/make-a-difference.htm.
Provided information and photo
11/10/13
