Past projects 4
Snacks For Amazing Students
Funded Jan 30, 2025I am so grateful to you for helping my project get funded! Your kindness and generosity will help hundreds of my amazing students feel more nourished, energized and cared for in the form of small food snacks. They wont have to try to learn while hungry, which is something I know you and I both believe is a right every child should be entitled to. Blessings to you and your family!”
With gratitude,
Mr. Paterno
This classroom project was brought to life by A New York City Parent and 2 other donors.Small Snacks, Big Dreams
Funded Apr 10, 2024I can't thank you enough for your incredibly kind donation to my project, "Small Snacks, Big Dreams." Thanks to you, my students were able to have the extra nourishment and energy needed to sustain them during our school days and study sessions. Many, if not the majority, of my students come from food-insecure households. Many come to school without having had breakfast and are hungry all day. They get school lunches, but it is simply not enough, and some students have allergies that don't allow them to eat all of the options provided in our cafeteria.
Being hungry or food-insecure has a vast psychological impact on my students. It is very difficult for hungry students to study and focus on their academics when they are starving or worrying about their next meal. It takes a lot of humility to ask your own teacher for food, and this can also have a huge impact on one's sense of self-value and confidence and dignity. Thanks to you, however, I was able to graciously provide my most in-need students with just a little bit of hope and kindness in the form of food that enabled them to not only focus better in school, but also ease their anxieties and worries about being constantly hungry. The snacks had a noticeable impact on improving student-teacher relationships, student attendance, and student performance on school work. Every single snack was distributed, not one thing went to waste. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and blessings to you and your family during this holiday season.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Paterno
Snacks for All
Funded Oct 24, 2023I want to give you one final, heartfelt thank you for giving to my project, "Snacks For All." Thanks to you, you helped to feed, literally hundreds of hungry high school students, many of whom come to school underfed and energy-depleted on a daily basis. When my students first saw all of the packages coming in, I could see the looks of gratitude, hopefulness and relief on their faces; the positive energ was palpable in the room.
I believe that it's a truly humbling (and for some embarrassing) experience to have to ask your teacher for food, so if students are doing that to me all of the time, I think it demonstrates just how desperate many of them are for something to nourish them during the school day. Many of my students come to school without eating breakfast and then eat very little during lunch, which many of them complain is often not high quality, to put it nicely. Many students tell me that they go to bed at night underfed and hungry, sometimes without having dinner.
Students ask me for snacks at all times of the school day, and because of you, I am able to provide them with a variety of snack options to meet their needs and preferences, for example, mixed nuts, fruit snacks, granola bars, etc. I believe that no student in our country should be forced to learn while hungry, it is an injustice that occurs in our country, the wealthiest nation in history. Clearly you agree with me and value the idea of student dignity in our school system.
This project has had a direct and positive impact on student learning at my school. Students whom used to struggle to focus or give their best effort in class now have the energy and nourishment needed to succeed during the 6 1/2 hour long school day. What's more, it has led greatly improved the relationship between my students and myself, who now know they can depend on me for "emergency snacks" whenever they ask me. I am to leverage this into greater learning opportunities and student engagement in my classes. Thank you so much for your generosity and kindness.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Paterno
This classroom project was brought to life by A Donor Who Loves Teachers and 4 other donors.After School Game Club For the Ages
Funded Oct 11, 2023I want to give you one more tremendous thank you from my students and myself for donating to this project. With your help, you have absolutely transformed my After School Game Club (which I run two days a week). Your donation helped to triple the number of games and activities available to the students in the club, which has led to more enthusiastic students, greater student attendance, and more social bonds created between themselves... all through the power and joy of games.
The students were extremely thrilled when the packages started arriving to my classroom. A countless number of students, even ones that don't attend the after-school club, commented about them. Other teachers also noticed my game stash piling up, and I believe that it helped inspire some of them to purchase more games for their own classrooms. Every single game has been opened and played several times; some students even use them during lunchtime, so they are put into use many, many times per week.
These games are not only building my students' critical-thinking and problem-solving skills in an entertaining manner, they are also helping students reconnect with each other after the social and emotional isolation they all suffered during the Covid pandemic. One student even told me, "Mr. Paterno, this is the most fun I've had at school in years, thank you for doing this for us." Hearing comments like that remind me of why I chose to become a teacher in the first place, and thanks to you, my students and I get to feel these great emotions again.
Thank you so much for helping to make this happen, this has been my most enjoyable year teaching in as long as I can remember (I have taught in public high schools since 2007).”
With gratitude,
Mr. Paterno
This classroom project was brought to life by The DonorsChoose Community & an Anonymous Partner and 3 other donors.