Volunteers Give NYC Schools In Need A Fresh Look On New York Cares Day
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Next week, students at 15 high-need New York City public schools will be walking into some brand new, revitalized classrooms and offices thanks to thousands of volunteers.
"We're going to freshen things up, do some painting, do some organizing," volunteer Andrea Delbanco said.
Volunteers dedicating their Saturday to scraping, painting, and cleaning their way through P.S. 38 in Harlem. It's all part of the 28th annual New York Cares Day for schools.
"Couldn't pick a better thing to do on a Saturday," Scott Kerr said.
New York Cares is a volunteer network that helps schools and non-profits. Kerr is one of those volunteers.
As he scraped the dry paint off panes of glass, he thought about what it will mean to the kids walking about and down this staircase Monday morning.
"There's about over a million students in this city and when we see we're doing things to improve their way of life and coming to school is makes us feel good," Kerr said.
More than 1,500 volunteers are helping out across 15 public schools in all five boroughs.
All of the schools getting help are Title 1 schools, meaning facilities that receive federal funding and have large concentrations of low-income students.
"I think all kids need support, but the kids who need these kinds of resources need to remember that the community is around them and behind them and rallying in support of making their days just a little brighter, it's a really important thing to do," Delbanco said.
So that students in these halls and in these schools can focus on what matters most – learning.
Organizers say they raised more than a quarter million dollars for Saturday's projects, which come from private and corporate donations along with volunteer fundraising.
