Zach Feldman surrounded by thank you cards from grateful New Orleans students

Zach Feldman, a sixth grade student in GEP’s alternative school program, has recently been involved in a very special community service project. With the hope that he could make a difference in the lives of other children in need, Zach collected more than 300 picture books and donated them to a first grade class at New Orleans Success Preparatory Academy, a charter school in Louisiana. First grade teacher, Mrs. Greeley, also Zach’s aunt, reported that the children screamed with excitement when they received the boxes from Connecticut. They wrote Zach letters in which they thanked him not only for his books, but for his love.

Zach is now doing monthly drives of dry erase markers, hand sanitizers, and Kleenex tissues, with a few boxes of cookies for afternoon snacks. He feels that even a small box sent each month makes a big impact on those who are really in need. Ms. Greeley stated her gratitude for Zach’s contributions to her classroom and shared that it is her mission to give every child an opportunity to learn to read. Zach is certainly helping his aunt complete this goal. When asked what this project has meant to him so far, Zach smiled and said,  “I feel happy and proud because I’m donating books to kids who don’t have them, and I’m helping them learn.”

If you would like to contribute to Zach’s cause, please contact Meredith Hafer at meredith@greenwichedprep.com for more details.

Zach shipping books to New Orleans

We’re excited to kick off this spring season with our “Spring Cleaning” food drive to benefit Neighbor to Neighbor. Recently, Neighbor to Neighbor volunteers were featured on the front page of The Greenwich Citizen because they are currently struggling with a record-high demand for food, yet rapidly waning supplies.  

Neighbor to Neighbor needs non-perishable food items, especially:

• dried and canned beans
• canned vegetables and fruits
• 100% fruit juice
• cereal
• peanut butter
• jelly
• soup

This is the perfect opportunity to help the hungry by donating unused food items while giving your pantry a little “Spring Cleaning” in the process! If you would like to contribute, please stop by our office in the Greenwich Water Club in Cos Cob (49 River Road, Building 4, 2^nd Floor). If every GEP student brings just three food items with them to their weekly session, we could end up making an enormous positive impact on our community. Any and all donations would be greatly appreciated!

Above, Meredith Hafer, Liz Rice and Natasa Racic display some recently donated items. Please help us come to the aid of those less fortunate.

The Marella family has been a part of the GE&P community for some time now, and that’s why we hope you’ll join us in supporting an organization they founded together,  Dana’s Angels Research Trust (DART). DART is a 501(c)(3) organization with strictly charitable purposes, founded by Phil and Andrea Marella to fund medical research, medical education, or medical or hospital care for the treatment or cure of Niemann-Pick Type C  disease (NPC) or other similar genetic diseases.

Their daughter, Dana, was diagnosed with NPC at age 8 in 2002.   In 2004, at the age of 5, Dana’s brother Andrew, the Marella’s 4th child, was also diagnosed with NPC.

We hope to see you at a benefit concert for DART on Friday April 17th at 8pm at Greenwich High School. Emmy-award winner Rob Mathes will be performing with his 14 piece band. Rob is an accomplished musician who even directed Obama’s Inaugural Concert. Read all about him at www.robmathes.com and to purchase tickets to his concert on April 17, visit www.danasangels.org

As part of our continued community outreach, GE&P sponsored the second annual New Canaan Spell-a-thon on November 8, 2008  to benefit Camp Hand-in-Hand,  a non-denominational summer camp based at St. Mark’s Church whose mission is to bring together children from diverse cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds in order to provide them with exciting and enriching summer experiences.