Roaring Brook students collect almost 4000 books to give to children less fortunate

June 6, 2008
by Michele Gregson

Today Roaring Brook Elementary School held a school-wide assembly to present St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf with a special gift.

Chappaqua School District Superintendent David Fleishman and Roaring Brook Principal Eric Byrne officially presented a representative of St. Joseph’s with over 3,000 gently-used books for the elementary-aged children at the School for the Deaf.

This present was made possible by the incredible success of the first-ever Roaring Brook book drive run by the school’s PTA Season’s of Giving Committee, chaired by Kym Vanderbilt, and the fourth grade Children’s Service Organization, or CSO, headed by teachers Todd Matthews and Kate Mamorsky.

Roaring Brook Elementary School has a long tradition of offering its oldest students an opportunity to be part of a service organization. This group of students works on projects for the school community, as well as, the communities in and around Chappaqua. Approximately half of the fourth grade students were part of this year’s CSO. The group met weekly, before school, to plan activities and to connect with each other.

The total number of books collected by the group was 3,773. In addition to St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf, Blythdale Hospital for Children and U.S. Africa Children’s Fellowship in Zimbabwe, through Temple Beth El, will also receive donations from the book drive.

After the assembly, the fourth grade children participating in CSO, the parent volunteers who are part of the Season’s of Giving Committee and the representatives of St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf shared breakfast in the cafeteria. The event capped off a successful year of community service for both the CSO and the Season’s of Giving Committee.

Michele Gregson has lived in Chappaqua for eight years with her husband and son, a student at Roaring Brook. She is the editor of Roaring Brook’s newsletter, district co-chair of Cultural Enrichment and a member of the Season’s of Giving committee. She is captain of one of Club Fit’s 3.5 USTA tennis teams and co-chairs the Caring Community committee at Temple Shaaray Tefila.