Moriches, NY - October 24, 2017 - Moriches Elementary School recently conducted a two-week school supply drive to help provide relief to students in the Caribbean island of Anguilla, which suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Irma in early September, which devastated the island and its schools. Altogether, the Moriches Elementary school community collected 10 large boxes of school supplies including 125 notebooks, more than 60 boxes of crayons, dozens of folders, hundreds of pencils, backpacks and more.
“We chose Anguilla because it is one of the lesser-known islands that suffered a catastrophic direct hit from Hurricane Irma,” said James Lollo, English as a New Language teacher at Moriches Elementary School, who spearheaded this drive along with his students. “Schools were destroyed, ports wrecked and their short airstrip is not able to handle large planes of relief the way other islands can. Now that they are slowly able to get supplies back into the country, we wanted to help their 2,500 students regain the feeling of normalcy as they return to school.”
Moriches Elementary School has partnered with the New York branch of Anguilla People Living Overseas (APLO), a 501 (c) (3) organizations, which has connected the school to the Anguillan Department of Education and several of its principals who have specified what their children need. The APLO will be shipping the supplies free of charge.
“This supply drive helped reinforce the ideals of compassion, selflessness, and citizenship to others in a time of need,” said Mr. Lollo. “Students were eager to participate in the drive, and were excited to help as evidenced by the outpouring of donations.”