Chapel School Holds 'Make A Difference Day' with Many Projects to Make a Difference

By Kim Zwisdak, Development Office, Village Lutheran Church and The Chapel School
Nov. 11, 2015: On October 17, The Chapel School observed Make a Difference Day--a national day of community service. Teachers and parents came together to create a "service fair" with stations that provided a wide variety of projects to help those in need.
Over 100 friends and families of the school participated in this day of caring.
Service projects completed at this event included making slipper socks for shut-ins and nursing home patients, coloring cards for children in the hospital, and making birdfeeder garlands that participants took home to help feed birds in their neighborhoods.
This year a few new service projects were introduced. "I wanted to switch it up a little so our volunteers stay excited about the new projects and we expand our community outreach," stated Kate Marino, organizer of The Chapel School's annual event.
One new project this year is caregiver kits for the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital. During the week leading up to Make a Difference Day, all Chapel School students were asked to bring in small toiletry items that would be used to assemble caregiver kits for Maria Ferari's Children's Hospital at Westchester Medical Center. These kits will be given to patients and caregivers at the hospital when children are brought in for emergency situations. Often families are in the hospital for unexpected reasons and these kits will provide them with basic toiletries to help ease their arrival and stay at the hospital.
A schoolwide call was also put out for denim jeans. Volunteers used patterns and the denim to create shoe pieces for Sole Hope. This organization uses pieces of denim to create shoes for children in Uganda that prevent jiggers from infesting and infecting the feet of children. Adults in Uganda also benefit from Sole Hope by working jobs to create the shoes.
The Chapel School is a place where service as a way of life is promoted to all students and families. Make a Difference Day is just one occasion when Chapel puts this belief into action. Students also participate in midnight runs, food collections for the Eastchester Community Action Partnership (ECAP), and other projects to help those in need throughout the school year. "This is a great event where families and friends come together to lend a hand to those in need," said project coordinator Kate Marino.
Pictured here: Chapel School students participating in Make a Difference Day.
Photo courtesy Kim Zwisdak, Development Office, Village Lutheran Church and The Chapel School











