Students, staff and faculty at Trumbull’s Madison Middle School have pitched in for the third year in a row this holiday season to generously support young clients impacted by domestic and sexual violence at The Center for Family Justice.
Students in Madison’s KARE Club, a student organization dedicated to acts of service, stuffed 24 bags with blankets they made by hand, pajamas. a cozy stuffed toy along with toothbrushes and toothpaste donated to benefit CFJ by Trumbull Children’s Dentistry.
The bags are intended to be given as comforting gifts to young children impacted by domestic or sexual violence who come to CFJ in need of support and a haven from the trauma and abuse they have experienced.
In addition to the comfort bags presented by the middle school student volunteers, the staff and faculty at Madison adopted a total of 18 of CFJ’s client children and teens, shopping for gifts on their holiday wish lists.
This year, CFJ was able to provide gifts to more than 160 of its youth clients through its annual Adopt-a-Family holiday program and the Madison community played a significant role in that effort.
“The entire community at Madison Middle School continues to inspire us with their collective kindness and generosity,” said Debra A. Greenwood, President & CEO of The Center for Family Justice. “We want to celebrate the lesson being shared throughout Madison Middle School about the importance of being of service to others. The CFJ team is deeply touched by this and our clients are grateful for the beautiful, comforting gifts they have received.”
KARE Club advisors Nancy Yarmosh and Jeanne Malgioglio, along with Madison Middle School Principal Peter Sullivan, commended student club members who remained committed to creating the comfort bags even when school shifted to a remote learning model about a week after the project launched. “Nancy and I are extremely proud of how the kids accomplished this project this year. Everyone was determined to drop off what was needed,” said Malgioglio, a Language Arts teacher. “We hope that these bags will cheer up the kids and give them better dreams at night.”
“I was pleased to see that our KARE club was undeterred by a pandemic and did not see distance learning as a barrier to continuing its important holiday tradition of supporting The Center for Family Justice,” said Sullivan. “Our students remain as socially aware as ever, even as they are socially distanced. They continue to inspire me, even in this most difficult of years.”
In 2019, Madison Middle School was a recipient of CFJ’s annual Community Outreach Award, given to a community organization that goes above and beyond to support the nonprofit and its clients.
Each year, CFJ provides crisis and supportive services to more than 4,500 adults and children impacted by domestic and sexual violence and child abuse in the communities of Bridgeport, Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Stratford and Trumbull.
