Avon Local School Students/Staff Holiday Giving

The giving spirit is alive and well this holiday season in the Avon Local Schools. Below is a summary of many of the holiday collections going on in the district. THANK YOU to the community/schools for your donations.

Avon Early Learning Center

• Avon Soaring Little Eagles Preschool helped Moose’s Mission by collecting pet supplies
• Blanket Drive for Cover the City
• Food Drive for Avon Cares
• Holiday Baskets for (Avon/Avon Lake Community Resource Services CRS)

Avon East Elementary School

• One of the holiday projects going on was organized by junior, Erin Lynch, at Avon High School. For the past four years, the AHS student, along with a junior at Elyria Catholic High School, have recruited local private schools in the diocese of Cleveland to make holiday cards for those children who are unfortunately stuck in the hospital during the holiday season. This will be the fifth year in a row that they will be participating in what began as a seventh grade brainstorm on how to lighten up the holidays for sick kids. In the first year of what Maddie and Erin have named “Cards for a Cause”, they only delivered about 700 cards to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland. Last year, they were able to donate over 10,000 cards to multiple hospitals including Rainbow Babies and Children’s hospital, the Cleveland Clinic, and The Cleveland Clinic’s Children Rehabilitation Center which was a huge triumph. This year, they intend to make an even bigger impact. To contact Erin, email lyncherin@avoneagles.org.
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  CRS drive at Avon Early Learning Center

  Early Learning Center and Heritage Students are also making cards.

• The Parker Hannifin Corporation has also sponsored four Avon East families this year for Christmas. Donations were also taken at the school to assist a few additional families this holiday season.
• Classrooms collected for Avon/Avon Lake Community Resource Services. Each year at their holiday workshop, the families in need get to select a pajama, jacket, hat, gloves, and toy per child, and they also get to pick a Family Basket. The baskets are donated and contain a variety of items (some fun, some functional). Some basket ideas included a Cleaning basket, Family Game Night, Christmas (wrapping paper, ornaments, decorations, stocking stuffers), Kitchen, Towels, Baking, Boy or Girl Themed, Italian Night, etc.

Heritage Elementary School

• During recess, a group of students are knitting hats, scarves, etc. for a local homeless shelter
• Student Council is taking the lead on two collection drives: 1) Giving Tree – collecting new or gently used clean hats, mittens, gloves or scarves.  2) The Booster Club is also collecting blankets for the needy. Items will be distributed to a local homeless shelter. Charity is called, Cover the City.
• Fall food drive for needy families.

Avon Middle School

Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) Club is sponsoring “Project Caring Tree,” a special December outreach program to collect clothing for the needy. In the school’s Commons two holiday trees were set up, and students decorated them with items such as gloves or mittens, scarves, hats, etc.  Some donated winter coats, sweaters or blankets to provide a little extra warmth to area children that would otherwise go without this winter season. This year, donated items will be given to Blessing House, serving as a safety net for children of families in crisis by providing a temporary safe home for children and support for their families.

Avon High School

• The Freshman Class and the Cover the City organization have teamed up for the Cover the City Project. Students are collecting new and used blankets of any size. Items will be given to the homeless population both in shelters and ‘tent cities’
• Avon Cheerleaders are collecting shoes for a fundraising Shoe Drive.
• * National Honor Society students collected and spent $1,800 on toys for local families.
• Operation Christmas Stocking was completed a few weeks ago. The generosity of the Avon students and staff was overwhelming. With the help of the AHS donations, 750 Christmas stockings were filled on the first day. With such a great start, the group surpassed its 2018 goal of 1,500 and finished by shipping 1,758 Christmas stockings to deployed troops. One of the recipients was SPC Xavier Pruchnicki, an AHS 2016 graduate. The school shipped enough for him and his unit. The following is a statement from the Commanding Officer who received the first 1,000 Christmas Stockings….He said, “I’ve been in military for 27 years and it never ceases to amaze me the love and support of complete strangers. Trust me we ALL know that the American public supports us and it’s because of good folks like yourself.”
• The collection drive for the stockings is organized by an AHS student who has been pursuing a military appointment from one of our nation’s armed service branches since he was a freshman. He is the face of making Operation Christmas Stocking an AHS success.