Elmsford students make 'Blessing Bags' with positive messages and items for people in need

Members of the Student Leadership Council at Alice E. Grady Elementary School in Elmsford met on a recent Wednesday after school to work on their latest project to serve the community.

Advisors Andrea Nunez and Debra Barbosa guided thirteen students in making “Blessing Bags” for individuals in need. The students wrote positive messages on the bags and then filled them with toiletries, socks, water and snacks.

“They are like-minded individuals who come together to bring awareness to their peers, and to learn advocacy and empowerment through projects. They started making changes within the school first, even talking about their presence amongst their peers,” said advisor Barbosa.

Advisor Nunez said they collectively came up with the idea for the bags based on a discussion of what they see is a need, keeping homeless people they see in their community in mind. She said they were able to raise money to create the bags from the two game night fundraisers they hosted.

Secretary Frank Spinelli, a fifth grader, combined the words bless and messengers to call the group “Blessingers” for this project.

“This is probably my favorite project we've done because, yeah, all the other stuff is just like making the kids at the school happy, and I want to explore and make the world happy,” said Spinelli.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Elementary students aim to help people in need with 'Blessing Bags'