By Peter Elacqua
Staff Writer
HOWELL – Students at Howell High School have been working with local charities and with Family and Children’s Services of Monmouth County to collect and donate coats to people in need during the holiday season.
Teacher Karen Talalas has worked with the Vocabulary Football League (VFL), which is run through the National Football League, and with Operation Sleighbells of Family and Children’s Services to collect coats.
This year Talalas asked for assistance from fellow teacher Matt Coulson and the Howell High School peer leaders. The coat drive concluded at the end of November and the effort saw students collect hundreds of coats, mittens, gloves, hats, scarves, socks and pajamas.
Peer leadership is taught by Coulson and social studies teachers Joseph Santopietro and Athanasia Gregorakis. The class promotes character building, leadership skills, delegating responsibilities and making a difference in real-life applications.
Coulson said hundreds of coats were collected during the drive. Several hundred coats were dropped off at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford at the VFL drop and the remainder were distributed to charities in Monmouth and Ocean counties.
“The students were able to create whatever their vision was to accomplish their goal. Not only did they want to go around to the community and ask people to donate used coats, they wanted to create bake sales and small businesses to bring in funds in order to purchase scarves, jackets, gloves and hats,” Coulson said.
“To me it is a really cool opportunity,” he said. “The peer leadership program (enrolls) 120 kids every year and the goal is to provide them with leadership opportunities and instances where they can figure out what works for them, where they fit, where their strengths are and how to continue to move down the path they want to move down.
“These real-life experiences are valuable and … if you can sneak in there that they can do some good for other people, too, and then they find this is a good feeling, it’s a win-win. I am grateful for Karen giving us this opportunity … For me as a teacher and as a person, to see students enjoy working and giving back and seeing them growing is a cool aspect about it,” Coulson said.
Kayla Fay, a senior in Coulson’s class, said the students collected coats and decided to raise money by running a bake sale. The bake sale raised several hundred dollars.
“I think it has been really cool to do,” Kayla said. “We are doing a competition between the classes and I think it got everyone into it. Originally (the coat drive) was given to us as an assignment, but I think everyone does not see it as an assignment anymore and that we are doing it because we want to, not really because we have to.”
Samantha Golub, a senior in Santopietro’s class, contributed several coats to the drive and said, “Knowing we are going to provide a coat for somebody who cannot afford one is very important … I feel that as a community it is our duty to help those who can’t help themselves, especially with coats. They seem so unimportant, but they are so vital to live. It is important to provide that as a school and as a peer leadership organization.”
Noah Sloan bagged groceries at ShopRite to raise money so coats could be purchased.
“Our class has been dedicated. The people who run it in our class have done a great job organizing it. I think we have 163 coats and they just keep coming by the bag loads,” Noah said as the coat drive wound down in November.
“Anybody who needs something who can’t afford it or whatever the case may be, I think people who can afford it or have more to give to other people should give it to others. That is (hundreds of) coats that are going to people who did not have coats before that have them now and I think that’s great.
“It is one of those things you do even without thinking you are doing it sometimes,” Noah said. “You will do something out of the kindness of your heart and then realize it was for a really good cause and you feel a sense of pride.
“You grow to love it and keep doing it and I think that is the lesson that is being taught to our whole peer leadership class. We are learning that doing something fun and having fun with it is helping a lot of people and I think that is how other people should go about it.”
Maureen Collins, the director of marketing and communications with Family and Children’s Services, said Operation Sleighbells dates back to 1909 when a group of people in Long Branch bought toys for impoverished children. Over the years, Operation Sleighbells began accepting donations of food and coal.
This year, Operation Sleighbells expects to serve almost 600 families and more than 1,300 children. Family and Children’s Services will provide “sleigh tags” which include a child’s first name, his or her age, clothing size and a holiday wish. Organizations, schools and businesses are invited to request tags and make the children’s wishes come true. For more information, call 732-222-9111.