For its school-wide community service project this year, TBS has partnered with Adopt-a-Family of the Palm Beaches, a non-profit organization that helps families in crisis (due largely to medical emergencies or financial hardships) get back on their feet. They do this by helping families become self sufficient, whether it’s helping them balance their budgets, looking for affordable housing, or job training. Adopt a Family helps school-aged children, homeless families, and families on the brink of homelessness. “We’re a high impact homelessness provider here in Palm Beach County,” said Sean Dollard, Resource Development Coordinator of Adopt-a-Family. “[We are] primarily a housing and homelessness provider for families with children throughout Palm Beach County,” he said.

So how did this connection between TBS and Adopt-a-Family form? “One of our board of directors is involved with Benjamin, Ms. Mari Frankel,” explained Dollard, “and her kids went to the school, [and she] had always hinted to us that [Benjamin] does a community service partnership each year and [that you] pick a non-profit, so this past summer… we applied, and are obviously humbled to be the recipient. “It’s been just a tremendous and memorable year for all of us at Adopt a Family,” said Dollard.

So from that moment on, The Benjamin School and Adopt-a-Family have been working closely together and organizing multiple events for the betterment of the community. “Each month. . .we tried to set up service projects [including] . . .food-oriented drives, the toy-drives, the big school supply drives, and just in those three core areas [The Benjamin School] did such a tremendous job in collecting food [and] toys,” mentioned Dollard. “Actually it was record setting for our agency, and we’ve been around for more than thirty years. [For] the holiday [drive] alone…[Benjamin] collected more than 1,500 toys, and with that surplus, we were able to provide a big chunk of those to our homeless families. . .” he said.

As the year went on, TBS held various drives in all three divisions to help provide necessities for these families. Some of these drives included November’s Fall Food Drive, the Holiday Toy Drive mentioned earlier, and the Entertainment Drive where students collected new or gently used games, movies, and sports equipment for the children served by Adopt-A-Family. “We collected dozens of items for the children, from brand new board games to soccer balls and cleats to a television set and an Apple TV™,” said Mr. Nicholas Crisafi, the Middle School’s Technology Integration Coordinator and sixth-grade advisor whose advisees headed up the drive.

This partnership has allowed the BPA (Benjamin Parent’s Association) and the MOB (Men of Benjamin) to continue to organize many events supporting this organization. “I was involved in the

MOB/Adopt-A-Family Fun Day that was held at their facility on February 28,” said BPA President and Benjamin parent Mr. Vince Marotta. This family fun day teemed with food, games, music, and a sense of community. “The goal of the event was to teach Benjamin kids to respect others, help those in need, and share fun and good times with all in a family environment,” continued Marotta.

But as this school year comes to an end, what will the future hold for this connection? Despite each service project partnership being a ‘one time thing,’ Adopt-a-Family hopes to stay in touch with TBS.

In fact, to show his appreciation on behalf of the entire Adopt-A-Family organization, Dollard presented Head of Middle School Mr. Charles Hagy and the entire Benjamin School with a glass plaque in assembly on Monday, May 16. “We really hope to stay involved with some of the contacts [and] the friendships we forged here. We are so grateful for you guys, and you are just a tremendous community partner and we’ll always be open to collaborating in the future,” finished Dollard.