ALJ's 'Change for Change' Campaign Buys Gifts for Needy Children

This release was submitted by the Clark School District.

On November 4, 2013,  ALJ began its annual Change for Change Campaign.  For the past three years the faculty and student body have banded together to purchase holidays gifts for families in need.  This year they fulfilled the wishes of ten families and fifteen individual students.  Many groups have “adopted” a family and through their membership, gifts are purchased.  In addition, loose change is collected during lunch and then distributed to each of the class advisors whose class adopted a family.  They, in turn, send out their shoppers to buy the gifts. 

A second phase of the campaign is an “Electronic Giving Tree."  The wish lists for individual children are posted and teachers sign up to provide an item on the list.  With the help of the Arthur L. Johnson staff 15 children received their hearts’ desires this holiday season.

The children and families that are helped by this initiative are from the New Jersey Regional Day School. Anne Pereira, a teacher at the school and resident of Clark, was the person who reached out the school for help and with gratitude, “Our students at New Jersey Regional Day School present with Pervasive Developmental Delays and Autism.  These disabilities are not their only obstacles in life.  They come from low income families and live in poverty.  Words cannot express how your generosity has provided our families with an opportunity to enjoy the holiday season.”

Mrs. Marciano and Miss Mills began this annual event as a means of encouraging the students to look beyond themselves and become a part of the global community by improving the lives of those less fortunate, thus the slogan: “ALJ changing the world one quarter at a time.”