Between December 16th and December 20th, Eli Terry Elementary School hosted a school-wide fundraiser collecting food items for the South Windsor Food Drive and hygiene products for Remembering Rylan.

Remembering Rylan, Inc is a non-profit mobile food pantry for the town of East Hartford. After the birth of their sleeping son, Rylan, Christine and Christopher Pinto decided to give back to the community and honor their son’s legacy. Their goal is to alleviate hunger and food insecurity for members of their community. 

“Dear Christine, We thank you once again for saving lives.” – Anonymous 

Knowing of Remembering Rylan’s impact on the community, Mrs. Jennifer Lizee-Hammer, an Associate Principal at Eli Terry Elementary graciously agreed to add Remembering Rylan to the fundraiser, raising hygiene products. 

“A lot of people ask for [hygiene products] and we never have enough,” Pinto told The Prowl. 

At Eli Terry, there is an Ambassador Team of fifth graders who aspire to be “change makers”. This team meets each month and chooses a community project to plan, organize and execute. 

In an interview with The Prowl, Lizee-Hammer explained the fundraiser.

“The Ambassadors decided to do it ‘flash style’, so it would create a sense of urgency in the donations and also ensure we’d have the items in time for the holidays.”

Each grade level was assigned a priority food and toiletry item to collect. The grade with the most items collected would be rewarded with extra recess. 

I had faith in the Eli Terry community to raise products for Remembering Rylan and South Windsor Food Bank. 

Previously, they had raised 1,500 pairs of socks and underwear in their month-long fundraiser “Socktober”. 

It is estimated that Eli Terry has raised at least 700 items of food and hygiene products. 

Their gracious desire to help the community has aided many families and does not go unnoticed.