When Jeanne Deets and Gloria Tarby of Trinity Episcopal Church of Bethlehem heard about BAPL’s fundraising efforts with Kindness Is Magic this past holiday season, they reached out with an extraordinary offer. Rather than buying ornaments to help pay down student lunch debt and accrued library fines for students in the Bethlehem Area School District, could Trinity “adopt” an entire school?
BAPL and BASD were thrilled to accept this generous offer. The school Trinity chose is Thomas Jefferson Elementary, a soon-to-be community school located less than a mile from them. Through a grant from their Wilma Lewis Endowment Fund, money was contributed to both causes to absolve a portion of Thomas Jefferson students’ lunch debts and the entirety of their library fines. At the Sunday service on February 17th, checks were presented to Josh Berk, Executive Director of BAPL and also to Emma Schwarz, Community School Coordinator Volunteer of Thomas Jefferson.
Thank you Jeanne, Gloria, and everyone at Trinity!
