Schools

Mineola Students Hold Pasta Fundraiser for Soup Kitchen

High school students help collect funds, donations to feed 500 at Mary Brennan INN.

The cafeteria at the is used to emanating a loud din that can be still resonate down the halls of the school and be heard by the doors of the gymnasium. What made this din particularly interesting though was that it was taking place this past Thursday night, long after classes were over.

As part of a service learning project, dubbed “,” advanced placement students held a pasta dinner fundraiser to benefit the Mary Brennan INN in Hempstead to help address hunger on Long Island.

The project first began in December when Quest teacher Nancy Regan “presented to us the problem of hunger on Long Island, which is a huge issue, even if you don’t always hear about it,” Dolores Chici, a student in the third period Quest class, said.

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In class the students discussed food and security “which is basically we don’t know where your next meal is going to come from,” Chici said, with each of the students represented a time period in American history where hungry was an issue. “We researched the information on our own and then presented it in an effective way so that our classmates could all learn something,”

The upperclassmen also presented the information to eighth graders, who were then asked to help contribute to the cause. The group sponsored a coin drive for loose change followed by a food drive, collecting over 2,000 pounds of food. The pasta dinner was the third phase of the project.

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“I was looking around and I was just realizing how many people came out and supported this issue and how together Mineola is making a difference for the INN and to fight hunger on Long Island as a whole,” Chici said as she was working the dessert table.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler thanked both Regan and Eileen Burke for their efforts with service learning in the district.

“Those of you who have been around Mineola know the efforts the student learning center put in,” he said. “We know about the Mary Brennan INN and other places that are in need because of the work we do at the student learning center and these two very two dynamic ladies.”

Many Mineola students participate in the INN youth board, handling different service projects and fundraisers for the soup kitchen.

All food served at the pasta dinner was donated by students, faculty and staff members at the high school.

“We didn’t buy any of the food that was given out tonight, that we used tonight – everything was donated, which means that everything that we brought in and in terms of your ticket sales and your contributions all will go will go straight directly to the INN,” Regan said.

The amount collected will help feed between 400-500 people at the INN according to estimates.

“I really feel that I’m here representing all of the people who are still in awe and in shock that the Mineola High School students would have thought to do this, created this incredible opportunity for all of you to come together and to realize that you’re going to be feeding as a result of all of your contributions,” INN Director Jean Kelly said. “You’re going to be feeding people who have nothing. We are truly inspired, this is unprecedented in the whole history of the 29 years of the INN. There has never been a group of high school students who have thought to do something (like this).”


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