Longfellow Middle School’s Annual Locker Cleanout Day generated more than 200 pounds of school supplies for local schools. Photo by Aimee Simons
Longfellow Middle School conducted its annual locker cleanout day on Tuesday, June 24. But this year was different than past years as a team of parents, organized by the Longfellow Environmental Team, helped students recycle papers and sort through materials still in good shape. Collection boxes were distributed in the seventh and eighth grade hallways to make it easy for students to donate unused and lightly used school supplies. The team of parents was able to salvage plenty of things that would have gone in the trash, including dozens of notebooks, folders, binders, dividers, locker organizers, pencil pouches, glue sticks, tape, pens, pencils, highlighters and unused paper.
Seventh Grade science teacher, Kate Williams, reported “It was fantastic! Thank you parents for your organization and monitoring the clean out. It went so smoothly and I think we diverted a lot of reusable goods from the waste stream.”
The school supplies will now be distributed to local schools in need through Help Us Help Them, a charity formed by Longfellow students Lauren and Megan Grohowski and their younger brothers. Help Us Help Them got its start in 2013, following up on the Grohowski kids’ work with an orphanage in Vietnam. They now look for opportunities to help less fortunate children all over the world. “We are so happy to have this chance to help less fortunate kids here in our local community,” said HUHT President Lauren Grohowski. “These school supplies would have gone in the trash. Now they’ll go to really good use, to kids right here in our community.” For more information on Help Us Help Them, visit HUHT.org.