Greensburg Salem Giving Tree blossoms in winter with gifts for students in need

If all goes as planned, Greensburg Salem students who receive holiday presents through the district’s Giving Tree program won’t realize how the gifts ended up under their trees.

At the middle school, only coordinator Barb Garofola, who is the student council adviser, knows the identities of the 81 students who needed an extra assist this holiday.

Those students, and others at Greensburg Salem’s additional schools, are benefiting from an annual program.

It’s been in operation for more than three decades, bringing together the charitable efforts of district students, teachers, staff and community members in the spirit of the season.

“It’s a huge collaborative community effort every year. It’s such an amazing effort,” said Garofola, an English teacher who learns of potential gift recipients through conversations with fellow faculty members, administrators and guidance counselors. Counselors oversee the program at other district schools.

“It’s all confidential,” said Garofola, who gathers wish lists and clothing sizes from recipients’ parents.

“None of the kids know that they’re on the list, or that their families are on the list — and we want to keep it that way,” district Superintendent Ken Bissell said.

After the gifts are wrapped, packaged in nondescript bags and identified with a coded tag, teams of current and retired district staff deliver them to students’ homes.

“There’s no clue the bags are from Greensburg Salem,” Garofola said. “We deliver them while the children are in school.”

The Giving Tree gifts focus on clothing and other essentials for the students.

“We don’t buy electronics or toys,” Garofola said. “If we can help out with clothing, maybe the parents will be freed up to purchase something else the student would really like to have.”

This year’s Giving Tree program at the high school is benefiting 38 students.

“Most requested items are shoes, winter coats, clothing and basic toiletries,” said Laura Klipa, a counselor at the high school. “The requests are never extravagant. Just having brand new shoes and clothing makes a difference to these families.”

Under the leadership of student council, fundraising for the Giving Tree program at the middle school includes November’s Silver Wars, where grade levels compete to donate the most coins.

“We try to involve the students as much as we can in this community service project,” Garofola said.

This year’s competition generated $560. That provided seed money for the middle school’s 28 enrichment period classrooms, each of which adopted one of the gift recipients and raised additional money to pay for the presents.

Garofola brought in candy canes for her classroom, and the students paid a quarter to buy a candy cane.

Additional gift recipients have been sponsored by the student council and by school staff. Though it has moved from the district to nearby New Stanton, Old Republic Insurance Co. donated 15 coats for students.

There has been a similar outpouring at the high school, where art students make and sell chocolate-covered pretzels to benefit the effort.

“This year, after seeing a district Facebook post, so many private community members stepped up and adopted students,” Klipa said. She said the local Quatrini Rafferty law firm annually adopts about a dozen gift recipients.

Internal fundraising by employees of the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County provides grocery gift cards for recipient families, Klipa said, while All Saints Brewing promotes adoptions among its patrons and helps to collect perishable food and toiletries.

The program also is a tradition at the district’s three elementary schools, where about 150 students will be receiving gifts, winter coats and food this year.

“All three of our buildings have high poverty populations, which designate them as schools in need,” said Jessica Pritts, a counselor at Metzgar Elementary in Salem. “Due to this high need, we would not be able to offer this assistance to families without the generosity of outside organizations along with several local churches, (district) faculty and community members.”

This year’s number of middle school gift recipients is up markedly from the usual average of between 60 and 65, Garofola said.

“It was an alarmingly high number this year,” she said. “The gifts were definitely needed.“

Still, she said, “I worry every year that there’s that one child we missed and didn’t get on our list.”