Garden City MS Students Make A Difference at GC Cares

GARDEN CITY, NY — Garden City Middle School recently hosted its annual GC Cares-a-thon event. Sponsored by the Garden City PTA, SEPTA and the middle school antibullying task force, students and staff volunteers created 19 stations all in support of great causes and organizations.

The cares-a-thon was spearheaded by middle school reading specialist and club adviser Dr. Kimberly Greenwald with the help of librarian Nadine Wenger, special education teacher Susan Cohen and many other dedicated volunteers.

Teachers and club advisers kicked off the event by asking students what cause or organization they’d like to support in order to participate. From there, students volunteered to create and host a station where they would spread awareness, sometimes collect donations and garner interest surrounding their cause. The student volunteers welcomed their peers and families that signed up to attend. This year, 145 students signed up to volunteer.

Stations included a "Rock Can Roll" food drive where students collected canned food items for those in need; a "Light Up the School" station where students wrote and shared positive messages for others; an "Under the Sea" station, spreading awareness about protecting marine life; a sign up station for the GC for a Cure race; and a makerspace station in the Garden City Middle School library where students made jewelry for those in a homeless shelter and many more.

Eighth grader Melina Mirabella said, "The GC Cares-A-Thon experience taught me that helping your community is important because when you help to make a difference, it can inspire more people to do so as well. As a result, the community will become a better place just because of your initial act of kindness."

"Each year, I am in absolute awe over the amount of work and dedication the students put into this special event," Greenwald said. "Their extraordinary commitment to make a difference far surpasses anything I have ever seen in my twenty plus years in education."