By Stephanie Vaccaro, Staff Writer
PRINCETON — Princeton Day School students are putting their old school supplies to good use — they’re donating them to HomeFront, an area organization that helps families break the cycle of poverty.
The students closed out their school year with The Great GiveAway, an annual project launched last year. The project, spearheaded by the student-run community council, began May 31 and finished June 10. Students were invited to sort and set aside usable school supplies that might previously have been thrown out. Labeled bins were situated in all areas of the school for the collection of gently used pens, pencils, crayons, general school supplies, notebooks, books, clothing and sports equipment. Students salvaged the unused portions of notebooks and recycled the paper that has been used.
”Everything is going to HomeFront NJ and will be used by school children who cannot afford school supplies in September,” said Ms. Rosko.
”HomeFront cherishes our relationship with PDS,” said Connie Mercer, executive director. “As a school community they most seriously take their responsibilities to be good corporate citizens and how to teach their children to be good citizens. The gently used supplies will be put to good use at HomeFront’s five summer camps, where we will be making sure that over 180 homeless kids not only have a good summer experience also work hard on improving their academic skills.”
”It’s a great way to raise awareness in all of our students about helping others, and even recycling and sustainability,” said Kathryn Rosko, director of communications.
”We collected approximately 350 binders, 150 spiral bound notebooks, 120 books, and seven full cartons of miscellaneous school supplies – pens, pencils, markers, rulers and scissors,” said Ms. Rosko.
Lower School students publicized the event with handmade posters, and teachers waited to begin desk and classroom cleaning until the event began.
The giveaway also facilitates the recycling of used paper.
”We recycled vast amounts of paper that would have found its way to the landfill,” said Ms. Rosko.
They estimate that at the end of the previous year 1,000 pounds of paper were recycled during the cleanup week. Waste reduction is a key part of the school’s ongoing sustainability initiative. Other steps taken to minimize waste are the addition of recycling/waste stations in the cafeterias, the composting of all food waste, the recycling of all florescent bulbs and the movement of most publications from paper to electronic.
PDS is a founding member of OASIS (Organizing Action on Sustainability in Schools), a local consortium of 17 local schools working to become more sustainable campuses, and a member of the Green School Alliance.

