Winter is officially here and United Way extends wishes for a joyous holiday season. May your heart be warmed by these examples of ways United Way funding through the Community Schools Model has impacted the lives of students and their families during the month of December.
Diehl Corporate Partners Provide Sweatshirts for All
Thanks to the corporate partner coalition at Diehl Elementary, each student went home with a sweatshirt on Thursday, December 15. This annual tradition has become one the coalition, students and staff very much look forward to!
Harding Holiday Bags
United Way staff and volunteers from St. Mark's Episcopal Church joined Harding community school director Shanna Potter to assemble and pack 600 Holiday bags that were distributed to students on Friday, December 16. The bags included a sweatshirt, winter items, socks, coloring book and crayons and much more!
East Middle School Students visit Behrend's Yahn Planetarium
On Friday, December 9, selected 8th graders were invited on a field trip to visit Penn State Behrend through the Youth Education Outreach department. Students checked out the Yahn Planetarium, visited the virtual reality room, coded ozobots, toured the campus and had lunch at Dobbins Dining Hall.
Shop with a Hero
On Tuesday, December 13 Officer Symphony Fowler (Miss Symphony) and McKinley Elementary 5th grader Shaniyha Crosby were among the dozens of duos connected through the Pennsylvania State Police's annual Shop with a Hero outreach. Miss Symphony, a former case manager at McKinley, remembered Shaniyha and her entire family which made shopping that much more special!
Union City students attend The Nutcracker Reimagined
On Friday, December 16 a group of 100 Union City students travelled to the historic Warner Theatre in downtown Erie to take in a performance of The Nutcracker Reimagined. Tickets were made possible thanks to The Erie Community Foundation and transportation to and from the performance was made possible thanks to The Union City Community Foundation.
Edison Students Benefit from Annual Giving Tree
On Friday, December 9 nearly 30 volunteers from Wabtec visited Edison Elementary to deliver more than 900 gifts and games, enough for each student, as part of the corporate partner's annual Holiday Giving Tree initiative. Leading up to Friday, Wabtec held a Gift Wrapping party at their Customer Innovation Center and organized a Delivery Team to get all gifts successfully over to Edison. In addition to a a game and gift of choice for students, staff also received a gift of an umbrella or tote. Winter gear, basic needs items and teacher supplies were also distributed during the recent festivities.