Sun Valley Community School Elementary School students presented The Senior Connection with a check for $15,634.44 raised through the school’s recent Read-a-Thon. This year’s event incorporated reading and service learning and benefitted The Senior Connection, an organization doing important work to support seniors in our community. Beginning on January 31 and ending on February 13, students raised money through their voracious reading efforts and participated in service learning opportunities in connection with the Read-a-Thon that revolved around establishing intergenerational friendships and together taking action to make a positive difference in the world. Activities included visits to The Senior Connection, decorating plant pots which were later filled with soil and seeds and given to seniors, and creating Valentine’s Day cards for seniors.
At the conclusion of the Read-a-Thon, Sun Valley Community School students in grades K-5 read a staggering total of 88,662 minutes, with the top reader award going to 5th grade student Evan Dittami who read 3,589 minutes. Students who secured the most pledges for the Read-a-Thon to benefit The Senior Connection include Harrison Black, Asher May, Wyatt Limburg, Otis Wood, and Casey Rolf. Co-chairs for this year’s Read-a-Thon were Kristen Dittami and Heidi Giordano. In 2019, students read a total of 74,376 minutes and raised more than $13,000 for last year’s recipient, The Hunger Coalition.
“At Sun Valley Community School, we believe that being of service to our school and our community is an essential component of leading an impactful, purposeful life,” said Elementary School Head Janet Salvoni. “By turning the focus of this year’s Read-a-Thon toward The Senior Connection, we lived up to that expectation through visiting their facility, learning about the Meals on Wheels program, sharing lunch together, and singing holiday songs. In addition, we were able to come together with the seniors at the Community Library to hear a presentation by retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman. To see the outpouring of support from our community for the Senior Connection was incredibly heartwarming. The entire collaboration was an amazing success!” *The total amount raised was accurate as of March 5, 2020 and does not take into account additional pledges being tallied.