East Hampton Teachers, Students Supply Holiday Feasts and Fun

          Claude Beudert, a special ed instructor at East Hampton Middle School, and Gabrielle Scarpaci, the executive director of the East Hampton Food Pantry, modeled scarves on Friday morning made and donated by Anne Marie Tetrault’s family and consumer science classes. The students made over 100 scarves to give to Ms. Scarpaci’s organization.

            Mr. Beudert also collected monetary donations from teachers in the East Hampton Union Free School District, and was able to give $500 to the East Hampton Food Pantry and another $500 to the Springs Food Pantry. “We were also able to pay some LIPA and fuel bills,” he said, along with collecting donations of food. A group of teachers have volunteered to deliver holiday suppers for Meals on Wheels on Christmas day.

            To accompany those delivered dishes, Mr. Beudert approached Middle School art teacher Brian D’Andrea, who rallied his seventh and eighth graders, and a few sixth-graders who asked to participate, to make holiday-themed placemats for Meals on Wheels.

            “Placemat drawings included snowmen, ice skaters, kids having snowball fights and making snow angels, wreaths, bells, candles,” Mr. D’Andrea said. The students also made over 40 dinner cards, “folded notes for nametags,” Mr. D’Andrea continued. “We created nice little holiday borders and wrote positive messages inside the fold.”

            “All the students participating were so happy to do something nice for such a great organization,” Mr. D’Andrea said.

            So far this year, the food pantry has assisted over 30,000 local residents.