How you can help the displaced students from East Side Community High School

A parent from the East Side Community High School forwarded us this email yesterday... slightly edited for length...

Greetings from the East Side Community High School Diaspora! We're sure you've read about us in the news recently. We are temporarily locked out of our East Village location because of structural damage to our building.

As a result, we have no access to our building. We cannot get to any of our teaching, student or office supplies, technology, sports equipment, etc. While the building is being assessed and repaired, we are housed in different schools. We don't know when we can get back home.

This is a very difficult situation, but we've always been The Little School That Could — we are a community of about 650 students and teachers from some of the city's most disadvantaged populations. Yet, we have received an A on our progress report for all of the years the NYC DOE has issued them. Our students have a tremendous record of success in every realm.

We will survive our temporary situation, but it's tough. It's tough being locked out. It's tough to be a community when half of us are in Midtown and half in Chinatown. It's tough not to able to go to our library, to sit at our familiar desks ...

Our top priorities are to keep our kids' spirits high during a difficult and unsettling time and to maintain a supportive environment that is both educationally and creatively stimulating by replacing the books, materials and technology that are in the building, which is off limits until it is deemed safe.

East Side has always been rooted in the community, and we are reaching out to our community now. We could use your help, and we invite you to make an investment in our community's future.

How can you help East Side students and teachers?

• Offer food (breakfast/lunch), snacks and/or water/juice to make our kids (and/or teachers) feel good.

• Provide school supplies for our students and teachers.

• Offer your venue for a class field trip (museum, film, play, pool, bowling, rock climbing...). Our students are working out of small, tight spaces with minimal space for recreation.

• Provide use of your space for activities, recreation, or meetings.

• Make a financial donation to help us purchase necessary items for our students and teachers and to cover travel expenses for activities and field trips.

• Donate a gift certificate or item to be auctioned/raffled off to raise money

• Supply gift cards (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Staples...) to help us with necessities.

• Help with technology — many of our staff and some students will be working in hallways and very tight spaces. Laptops would allow us to be more productive and make life a little easier.

To learn more about East Side, please go to our website. To speak to someone directly, contact Jodi Caplan, Director of Community & Family Partnerships, at jodic@eschs.org

And courtesy of Pumpkin Patch, here's the direct link to the donations page.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Schools making it work while repairs continue at 420 E. 12th St.