Press Release

Release Date: December 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Susie Pickering

Oak Lane Day School

137 Stenton Ave, Blue Bell, PA 19422

Phone: 610-825-1055

Fax: 610-825-9288

Email: spickering@oaklanedayschool.org

Children Helping Children in Service Projects at Oak Lane Day School

Of the nine yearly community service projects undertaken by Oak Lane Day School (located just outside of the Chestnut Hill area), the ones that involve the children helping other children are certainly among the favorites. Recently, the Oak Lane students and teachers enjoyed their tradition of pillow-making for St. Christopher's Hospital. One hundred flannel pillows were carefully decorated, stuffed, sewn, and donated to the hospital to give to children having surgical procedures. Meant for use as a comfort measure after a scary and painful experience, the pillows and the making of them generate great feelings of warmth and compassion in the Oak Lane community.

Recently, Sherry Shaeffer (Community Service Program Director at Oak Lane) received a phone call from a nurse at St. Christopher's Hospital thanking Oak Lane for the pillows. Words of appreciation also came from a family whose child was admitted to the hospital and who was given a pillow last year. Wrote the child's parent, "When all of you make your pillows you may not know what happens to them, but they are loved and truly help sick children. Our daughter still sleeps with her pillow and is feeling much better."

Part of Ms. Shaeffer's job as Community Service Director is to assess the viability of the service projects in terms of the students' ability to perform a task and connect with the issue at hand. Capitalizing on the popularity and success of child-oriented service projects, Ms. Shaeffer introduced the Oak Lane community to an organization that specializes in meeting the needs of low-income and homeless children: Cradles to Crayons. Founder and President of the Philadelphia branch, Jennifer Case, came to visit Oak Lane and explained to the students Cradles to Crayon's process of collecting, organizing, and distributing donations from schools, businesses, and private individuals. The result was a service project custom-made for Oak Lane that combined thoughtful donations from the families, purposeful industry among the students and teachers, and interest in promoting the welfare of children.

In the beginning of November, the Oak Lane community began collecting new or gently used clothes, books, toys, and baby furniture and supplies to support Cradle and Crayons' mission to provide children with the basics to be "safe, warm, ready to learn, and feel valued." Over the following three weeks, the donated goods accumulated into an impressive pile. Ms. Case along with other helpers from Cradles to Crayons came back to the School to set up sorting stations, and then the community got to work. Ms. Case explained that it is very important to make sure that the donated items are in excellent condition before they are given to the children and so the Oak Lane students and teachers meticulously inspected each article of clothing for tears, stains, missing buttons, or broken zippers. The books and toys were as carefully looked over to ensure that they too were presentable and safe. Bag after bag of sorted clothes and other goods were finally loaded into a U-Haul and taken to the Cradle to Crayons' Giving Factory located in Horsham, PA for distribution to needy children.

Oak Lane Day School Information

An independent elementary school, founded in 1916 and located in Blue Bell, Oak Lane Day School serves a diverse population of boys and girls. Oak Lane honors each child's unique individuality while fostering intellectual, creative, academic, and personal growth within a diverse community of active, engaged learners. Small class sizes and an atmosphere that encourages children to develop their academic and social skills are priorities at Oak Lane, where learning is a meaningful and joyous pursuit. Oak Lane's country-like property of 30 acres along Butler Pike and Stenton Avenue boasts a stream, pond, woods, meadows, and specimen trees as well as athletic fields and playgrounds.

Oak Lane Day School is accredited by the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS), and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) and the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS).