FIELD TRIP SPURS LESSON IN GENEROSITY.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
VALLEY VILLAGE - It started with one little girl sitting in her bedroom last Wednesday night, writing a flier to put up at school the next day. ``Dear Friends,'' 10-year-old Lily Gottlieb wrote. ``Last Monday, the third- and fourth-grade classes went on a field trip where we learned that some people who are homeless are children.'' She thought only old people were homeless, not children. Children are supposed to have what she and her friends at Beth Hillel Day School Hillel Day School is a private, Jewish day school in Farmington Hills, Michigan which was founded in 1958. It provides both secular and Judaic studies instruction for students from kindergarten through eighth grade. in Valley Village have. Nice, warm homes with your own bedroom for your own toys and clothes. TVs, CDs, videos and plenty of books to read. But last Monday on this field trip to a building in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. where homeless families come for help, Lily Gottlieb, Jake Fishman and their classmates Classmates can refer to either:
Not all children have homes. Some of them, they learned on this field trip, didn't have even one book. ``The man there said there are not enough books for all the kids, and we thought it would be a great mitvah (deed deed, in law, written document that is signed and delivered by which one person conveys land or other realty (see property) to another. A deed may assure the extent of the conveying party's ownership or, if the party is uncertain of the precise extent, he issues a ) if the whole school collected books for these kids to keep for themselves when they leave the shelter,'' Lily wrote. ``If you have some you don't read anymore please bring them to school. Our goal is 200 books, and if we reach it we'll buy ice cream treats for the whole school. Thanks.'' Rhona Blaker, Lily's mother, looked over her daughter's flier and smiled. Of all the field trips Lily and her classmates had taken over the years, this one to the homeless shelter Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people. Usually located in urban neighborhoods, they are similar to emergency shelters. The primary difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. was the best. She'd overheard the kids talking as she drove them back to the school after the field trip, listened to them wondering what they could do to help. ``It sparked my daughter and her classmates, and made them think about things outside their own neighborhoods and lives,'' Rhona said. ``Usually, the kids talk about a field trip for about a day afterwards af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. afterwards or afterward Adverb later [Old English æfterweard] Adv. 1. , but this one they were still talking about three days later. ``If you know 9- and 10-year-old kids, you know that's amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. ,'' she said. ``But that shows just how affected they were by it.'' On Thursday, Lily put her fliers up around school. On Friday, she and her classmates were already making plans for those ice cream treats for the 51 kids at school. ``We've already collected nearly 200 books and still have a week to go,'' said Susan Isaacson, director of the school. No one knew this field trip to PATH - People Assisting the Homeless - would have this much of an impact on the kids at school, Isaacson said. Certainly not herself or Yoram Fishman, a parent who owns a cosmetic company that donated supplies to a beauty shop at PATH, where homeless mothers can have their hair done and spruce spruce, any plant of the genus Picea, evergreen trees or shrubs of the family Pinaceae (pine family) widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. The needles are angular in cross section, rather than flattened as in the related hemlocks and firs. themselves up for job interviews. It's like a second-hand mall with a clothes store, food supplies and transitional housing provided by agencies, like the Salvation Army Salvation Army, Protestant denomination and international nonsectarian Christian organization for evangelical and philanthropic work. Organization and Beliefs The Salvation Army has established branches in 100 countries throughout the world. , which sends people here to pick up what they need, said Eddie Hsu, executive assistant of PATH, a nonprofit organization Nonprofit Organization An association that is given tax-free status. Donations to a non-profit organization are often tax deductible as well. Notes: Examples of non-profit organizations are charities, hospitals and schools. funded with public money and private grants. ``On the second floor of the building is the children's art center, where the kids can be creative, do their homework, and read while their mothers are taking classes or out on job interviews,'' he said. ``It surprises the kids who visit here on field trips. They're not expecting to see other kids, homeless kids. It's a wake-up call for them that there's another world out there very different from their own.'' A world more kids should take a field trip to see, Lily says. ``I know if they do, they'll feel very lucky with what they have,'' she said Friday, walking into another classroom at Beth Hillel Day School to say thank you to her classmates for bringing their extra books to school for kids who have none. Thank you, and asking them what kind of ice cream treat they want. If there are any other schools or groups out there who would like to take a field trip to PATH in Los Angeles, contact Sarah Vallim, who coordinates the field trips at (323) 644-2200. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Lily Gottlieb displays books donated by Beth Hillel Day School students. Tina Burch/Staff Photographer |
|
||||||||||||

Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion