PS 11 Students and Faculty Send Gifts to Iraqi Children

January 11, 2009, at 6:36 pm | Leave a comment

Photo by: Byron Smith/ Journal photo... 6- Eigth grade students from School 11 in Jersey CIty, Present Spc. Jon Burns with donations for Iraqi kids.

Tough economy did not stop the six eight-grader students and the faculty of Martin Luther King, Jr. School (PS 11, Bergen Avenue.. few blocks away from Journal Square PATH) to give presents to Iraqi children.

PS 11 students contributed four boxes of gifts, which are composed of “books, balls, magnetic toys, coloring books, cookies and candies”. On the other hand, the faculty also chipped, “donating $300 for gifts at a fund-raiser.” This act of charity is called “Kids to Kids” project.

Way to go, kids! (and faculty) *two thumbs-up*

Read the rest for the full news…

GIFTS FOR IRAQ KIDS

Friday, January 09, 2009

By TOM SHORTELL

JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Six eighth-graders at School 11 in Jersey City yesterday presented a U.S. Army soldier returning to Iraq with four boxes filled with toys and treats for Iraqi children – the crowning achievement of their “Kids to Kids” project.

“I want to thank you guys for the work you’ve done so far,” said Army Specialist Jon Burns, 30. “It seems like (the Iraqi children) live for that. They’re always waiting by the side of the road for a soccer ball or a candy bar.”

The gifts, including books, balls, magnetic toys, coloring books, cookies and candies, will be taken on patrols heading out from Camp Bucca in southeast Iraq, Burns said. The recipients will range from the children of poor farmers and sheep herders to kids in urban areas, he said.

“We try to get it to the little girls especially,” Burns said. “Otherwise the boys will knock them right over.”

For the students, helping other children makes sense.

“Since kids in the U.S. have so much and they have so little over there, it seemed like the right thing to do,” said Kimberly Tu, 13.

Students got the idea after Korean War veterans spoke to sixth-, seventh-and eighth-graders, said Assistant Principal Diane Pistilli.

The veterans mentioned how soldiers often give children who approach them candy bars. The stories reminded Pistilli and several students of a Jersey Journal article about Hudson County residents presenting Burns with 300 soccer balls to distribute to children, Pistilli said.

“I told them, ‘I want you as boys and girls to have a little meeting to brainstorm ideas and come back to me after that,’” she said.

And faculty also chipped in, Pistilli said, donating $300 for gifts at a fund-raiser.

News Source: Jersey Journal