Bay Ridge

For Adelphi students, holiday season is time of service

December 8, 2017 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Student Advisory Board members Regina Levy, Arber Kadiu and Ania John (left to right) display some of the many toys that were donated to the school’s Holiday Toy Drive. Photos courtesy of Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn
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The holiday season is a busy time at Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, but students aren’t just thinking of presents under the Christmas tree.

Community service is a big part of student life at Adelphi Academy, according to school officials. The private school is located at 8515 Ridge Boulevard in Bay Ridge and has classes from pre-K all the way up to senior year of high school.

The month of December has been filled with activities, including the academy’s Annual Holiday Toy Drive. Students and teachers have been collecting new, unwrapped toys to donate to children whose parents are having a tough time making ends meet. The toy drive will be taking place until Dec. 14.

Adelphi Academy is also currently in the middle of its Special Trees for Special Needs Holiday Tree Drive, in which volunteers offer donations to sponsor 6-foot-high Christmas holiday trees that grace the school grounds.

Funds raised in the tree drive will go toward the academy’s Project Succeed Program, a fund for college-bound students with special needs.

The trees will be on display on the academy’s grounds on Ridge Boulevard through Jan. 12.

Trees that have been sponsored as of Tuesday, Dec. 12 will be part of Adelphi’s Annual Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony to take place that same evening at 6:30 p.m.

In addition to the lighting of the tree, the event will feature a live holiday musical performance from students and teachers, hot chocolate, cookies and custom-made ornaments.

Even before the official start of the holiday season, Adelphi Academy students were busy with service projects, according to school officials.

In October, students went out to Neponsit Beach, Queens, where they helped lawyer Joseph Mure Jr. set up for his Annual Little North Pole, an event he hosts in front of his house to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Mure is a longtime friend and supporter of Adelphi Academy.

The show outside Mure’s house, which features live musical performances and celebrity cameos, took place on Nov. 12. Adelphi Academy is a sponsor of the Little North Pole.

To help Mure get ready, Adelphi volunteers unloaded hundreds of life-sized decorations and assisted in placing them around the property.  Adelphi art instructor Nikki Fregara led student-artists in designing, building and hand-painting giant, larger-than-life dreidels.

“Joe is a proud supporter of the academy and a wonderful example to our students of what dedication, community and charity truly means,” Albert C. Corhan, director of Academy Operations, said in a statement. “Adelphi is proud to support him and the Little North Pole event each year, which raises thousands of dollars to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.”

The giving spirit continued at Thanksgiving, when Adelphi Academy students donated hundreds of canned goods to the Salvation Army Bay Ridge Corps after collecting the cans in the academy’s Annual Holiday Food Drive.

Lt. Joel Ashcraft of the Salvation Army came to Adelphi Academy and was greeted by Head of School Iphigenia Romanos who presented him with boxes of food items that had been donated by students and teachers.

“The Annual Holiday Food Drive is always a special initiative at Adelphi. The students get to see the results of their generosity firsthand as officers from the Salvation Army come to graciously collect these donations and spend some time visiting with the students,” Romanos stated.

“It serves as a perfect example of the impact that can be made by giving back,” she added.


For information on how to sponsor a tree in the Special Trees for Special Needs Holiday Tree Drive, call Adelphi Academy at 718-23-3308 or visit www.adelphi.org.

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