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Van Duyn School Hopes To Receive 515 Donated Pajamas Van Duyn Hopes To Receive Around 515 Donated Pajamas

By Pa Zong Lee

PA-ZONG LEE: Fourth-grade teacher, Thienan Huynh-Boyle, says the school hopes to receive around 515 pjs. The fundraiser started over the weekend.

THIENAN HUYNH-BOYLE: We have a total 450 students, roughly, and we are also adopting Oasis, our sister school, so we’re going to try to raise 65 additional pajamas for them.

LEE: December 15th is the deadline to donate. They hope to receive an influx of items as they did last year with a blanket drive.
Vice principal Reba Hodge says the outcome inspired them to give to Oasis students.

REBA HODGE: And just us really seeing that we had gotten so much of a response that we needed to share our collective blessings with someone else.

LEE: Giving to Oasis Academy makes sure the Van Duyn Champs see that they can also help others.

HODGE: It’s always been about showing and demonstrating to the Champs that they have giving power just as much as any other… umm… community has and that they needed to see themselves as those kinds of young people.

LEE: Right here at the school, you can drop off the pajamas, or have them picked up, or even send money electronically and the teachers can go ahead and buy the pjs with the money. More information on that can be found on their website… in Syracuse, Pa-Zong Lee, NCC News.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Van Duyn is hoping to receive around 515 pajamas to provide them for their students as well as others at Oasis Academy, their sister school. The drive officially kicked off over the weekend and they’re asking for any pajamas from a size 4T to adult sizes.

This drive is bring run by four general education teachers who belong to a committee, the Positive Behavior Intervention Committee.  Its mission is to encourage, highlight and celebrate positive behavior and community. Fourth-grade teacher, Thienan Huynh-Boyle, is one of those four. Huynh-Boyle said this serves as an alternative way to support their students.

“Every year we run a different celebration for our kids, so last year it was blankets since most of our kids were remote at home last year; a blanket and a cocoa drive was the perfect way to encompass and surround our kids with love outside of the building,” Huynh-Boyle said. “Now that they’re back we wanted to do something that’s cozy and warm that’s going to bundle them up and make them feel even more loved being back into our school world…  I mean who does not love opening a new pair of pajamas for the holidays.”

Besides providing a service for their own students, Van Duyn is sending pajamas to students at Oasis Academy as well. The inspiration came from a wide response from last year’s blanket drive where they realized they can also share the love and support. Through the relationship of Van Duyn principal Eva Williams and Oasis’ former principal, it was perfect to serve the students at both schools, vice principal Reba Hodge explained. Hodge said this is important as even a young student can make an impact.

“It’s a way to remember how collectively people can make a change… it reminds us of the importance of schools belonging to the communities that they are in, but also understanding how communities have shifted and broadened,” said Hodge.

The last day to donate pajamas to the school is Dec 15. You can either drop them off, arrange for them to be picked up or even send money electronically where the teachers from the committee will use it to buy pajamas.

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