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08-20-09
Yonkers, NY
Andrus
Children’s Center
continues to
provide school supplies for County children in
need
Shop windows
advertise binders and lunch bags; parents review
‘must have’ lists buried since June’s school
mailings. It’s back-to-school time and
throughout the County, even while many are still
away on vacation, shopping lists of school
supplies are being made. And for as much of a
chore as this annual ritual can be, imagine what
its demands are for low-income families within
just miles of affluent neighborhoods.
For almost a
dozen years the Andrus Children’s Center, based
in Yonkers and serving hundreds of children and
families throughout Westchester County, has met
the needs of families seeking to send their
children off with the basics in hand. Each year
local corporations and businesses have stepped
forward to provide backpacks filled with an
‘approved’ list of supplies. These are
distributed to children in therapeutic nurseries
in Yonkers, White Plains and Mt. Vernon and to
students at the Center’s Orchard School on its
Yonkers campus, which the Bronxville High School
senior class worked with this past June. It was
that Field Day experience that kept one local
family connected and seeking additional
opportunities to serve children in need.
“I watched the
wonderful interaction between Bronxville
students and The Orchard School kids, all of
them suffering from emotional illnesses and
trauma, and felt there is more we can do to
support this great work” said Annette Adamiyatt
of Bronxville, who served with Bea Welch as
co-chairs of this year’s senior class Community
Service project. And that interest was just
what was needed this summer.
“By the end of
July I’d heard from several longtime donors to
our backpack program that because of the rough
economy they would have to back out from helping
this year.” Kevin Cook, director of
development for Andrus, knew there were others
who would step forward to fill the gap. “I
emailed the situation to a number of local
friends and business leaders and asked them to
share the need with groups which might take on
this mid-summer ‘emergency.’ The response has
been very gratifying.
The Bronxville
Rotary Club heard and pledged $200 at last
week’s meeting. Students in a professional
service club at Monroe College in New Rochelle
raised more than $300. Those combined dollars
will go a long way towards filling the 100 new
backpacks that the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots
program (a long-term support group for Andrus)
purchased. The Outreach Committee at Scarsdale
Congregational Church heard about the need and
sprang into action, donating several hundred
dollars worth of requested supplies. Bill and
Maureen Barton signed on to provide some, and
Elisa Shevlin Rizzo, former president of the
Junior League of Bronxville, shared the message
and arranged for drop-offs on her Forest Lane
home front porch. The Adamiyatt family went
shopping - and found most of the necessary items
right in downtown Bronxville!"
Annette’s
delighted with the Village response: “It’s very
easy to overlook real need just a few miles from
home when your own family is focused on vacation
and, in our case, packing up a child for
college. But the truth is, it’s just as easy
and it’s right to add someone else’s needs to
your own ‘to do’ list and provide real hope for
someone in need.”
For further information
about helping to provide school supplies in a
new backpack for County children in need, please
contact Kevin Cook at the Andrus Children’s
Center,
kcook@jdam.org or
914-965-3700.
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