Students give thanks and help others

Students at Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva in Edison gave thanks by sharing their good fortune with others during the holiday season.

At its first Thanks and Giving Day on Nov. 26, first-graders created about 60 “turkey cups,” which were filled with candy and delivered to children in the pediatric unit of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick before Thanksgiving.

Second-graders prepared about 60 brown bag lunches with sandwiches, fruit, snacks, and drinks, which were delivered to S.H.I.P., Samaritan Hornless Interim Program in Somerville, which distributed the meals to needy families.

The projects and the motivation that fueled them were then shared with other students during a school assembly for grades one to four.

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“Students found a creative way to express their gratitude and to stress that they are thankful every day for all they have,” said lower school director Chaya Friedmann. “Next year we hope to expand the program to give students in more grades the opportunity to rethink Thanksgiving with a focus on giving.”

“It was fun, and it makes us happy because it makes children in the hospital happy to get baskets,” said first-grader Yaelle Messulan of Edison. “Also it was a mitzva because some people don’t have money for stuff and it’s nice now they can have it.”

Second-grader Yarin Krasner of Highland Park said that “some people are not as lucky as we are. They are not healthy and can die because they are hungry.”