At the end of December, Counseling In Schools (CIS) and A-Tech High School, a vocational training and Community School in Brooklyn, hosted a Holiday Food and Coat Drive for students and their families, staffed by teachers, and administrators and other school volunteers.
The event came together after a school-wide survey confirmed families were more in need of winter essentials than ever this holiday season, due to the effects of Covid-19. Though A-Tech usually procures donated coats from a local agency, this year Akua Aboagye, Counseling In Schools’ Student Wellness Coordinator at A-Tech, was informed that the organization had run out of adult winter coats due to the pandemic.
Aboagye took it upon herself to organize a coat drive for the school community, receiving more than 50 donations from Operation Warm, a local non-profit, and Michelle Matland of MSM Design Studio, a New York City costume designer for TV and film including HBO’s Succession and TBS’s The Last OG, starring Tracy Morgan.
Students’ physical needs need to be met before they can find hope and healing, and as a Community School dedicated to ensuring that children are physically, emotionally, and socially prepared to learn, A-Tech and CIS always make it a priority to help their community access essential, basic resources.
