The Birth of Team 2234 The Birth of Team 2234 - Episcopal Academy

Spirituality & Community Service
Episcopal Academy Lower and Middle Schools
Raise Money for Dikembe Mutombo Foundation
“Spare Change To Save A Life” campaign has raised more than $5,000
to date; Merion pre-kindergarten class raises over $1,200 for Mutombo
Foundation
In an ongoing project, which began this winter, students
in the Middle and Lower Schools have been engaged in
the “Spare Change To Spare A Life” community service
campaign, collecting loose change to support the Dikembe
Mutombo Foundation’s Help Heal Kinshasa project.
The brainchild of two Episcopal students—Meredith and
Alex Nelson (of the 6th and 9th grade classes, respectively)—
students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade have been
collecting funds to help the Mutombo Foundation’s construction
of a hospital in the Congo. The students came up with the
idea after watching a short video explaining the lack of suitable
health care facilities in Kinshasa.
Mr. Mutombo, an Episcopal parent and member of the Houston
Rockets of the NBA, visited with several classes already
to thank them for their support. The fund drive will continue
through the end of the year.
The Lower School at Merion has been hard at
work all spring raising money through the “Spare
Change to Save a Life” drive. At left: the Merion
kindergarten class poses with teachers Jen Tierney
(at right) and Buffy Brown.
The pre-kindergarten class at Merion (below),
which along with their families, helped to raise over
$1,200 for the Mutombo Foundation.
Pre-Kindergarten Students Choose to Give
Rather than Receive
In a separate event for the same foundation, five pre-kindergarten
students with birthdays in March joined together for a
combined birthday party to which the whole class was invited.
The catch? Instead of bringing gifts or toys, the students
requested that each family make a donation to the Help Heal
Kinshasa Project. The students (Emily Wagg, Paige Gerardi,
Nicholas Christos, Quinn Day, and Olivia Walsh), their classmates,
and their families ended up raising over $1,200.
Episcopal Hosts Reception for the Most
Right Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori,
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
Episcopal hosted a reception in the Annenberg Library this past February
for The Right Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, shortly after she was
elected Presiding
Bishop of the Episcopal
Church. The reception was
hosted on behalf of the Academy
and three city parishes,
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
in Overbrook, Historic Christ
Church in Center City, and
St. Peter’s Church at 313 Pine
Street.
More than 400 people attended
the reception to meet
the church’s first female presiding
bishop, who leads more
Episcopal Academy chaplains (from l to r) Rev. Heather Patton-
Graham, Rev. Albert Zug, and Rev. James Squire, along with
than 2.4 million members in 16
student Angelique Israel ’07, presented the Most Right Reverend
countries and more than 110
Katharine Jefferts Schori (second from right) with several gifts
dioceses around the world. from the school during a reception in February.
Two Episcopal Students Host
“Fashion for a Cause”
Taylor Durovsik (second from right) and Samantha Field (far right)
were aided by (from l to r) Elizabeth Thompson ’10, Eve Gural,
Rachel Howard ’10, Courtney McKinney ’10, Seanie Burke ’10,
Clemens Cox ’10, and Emily Sax ’09 during their “Fashion for a
Cause” event this spring.
On Saturday, April
21st, Taylor Durovsik
’10 and
Samantha Field
’10, along with several of
their friends, teamed with
the People’s Emergency
Center in West Philadephia
to set up a “store” for
underprivileged teenage
girls. The event was called
“Fashion For A Cause” and
the idea was to let teenage
girls from various shelters
across Philadelphia “shop”
free of charge for some new
fashions.
Taylor and Samantha
spent the better part of the
spring collecting new and
gently used clothing and accessories from friends and family. In addition, they received
generous donations from Anthropologie, Tory Burch, and Charming Shops.
The two students also provided music and food making for a festive event.
More than 100 girls from across Philadelphia attended, making it more successful
than the students ever imagined. The girls said it was extremely rewarding to see
how happy the girls were to receive the clothing and they hope to continue the event
in the future.
Students’ Squash
Pediatric Cancer
Event Draws More
Than 400
Founded by student Lexi
van Arkel in 2005, this
year’s event raised more than
$35,000 for CHOP
Over 110 Philadelphia-area junior
squash players organized
the 3rd annual “Squash Pediatric
Cancer” event this past
spring and raised over $35,000 for pediatric
cancer research at the Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia. Episcopal was
very well represented.
Founder, Lexi van Arkel ’08 was
joined by vice co-chairs, Anne Madeira
and Logan Greer, both members of the
class of 2007. All the members
of the varsity and
junior varsity boys’ and
girls’ squash teams, and
many Middle School
squash players, joined
the Junior Committee
to help organize and run
the event.
The fundraiser gave the
Inter-Ac squash players an
opportunity to collaborate
for a good cause after a
highly competitive squash
season.
Junior Lexi van
Arkel founded
the Squash
Pediatric Cancer
Event in 2005.
The fundraiser was held again at The
Haverford School and included squash
clinics for kids taught by top local squash
professionals who kindly donated their
talents and time for the cause. Following
the clinics were three exhibition matches
and a silent auction and raffle also
helped raise funds.
More than 400 people were on hand
throughout the afternoon to support the
event, which was founded by van Arkel
in March 2005. van Arkel decided to
put her passion for squash to good use
when her younger brother’s schoolmate
was diagnosed with cancer. She recruited
Shipley Junior, Clare Kuensell as co-director
and received additional help this
year from Greer and Madeira.
30 Connections spring 2007 31