WPS hurricane relief for Houston

By Rama K. Ramaswamy

Hardy, Hunnewell, WHS, and PAWS Preschool (Wellesley Public Schools) recently unified around a humanitarian cause: hurricane relief for Houston.

The primary organizers were Shaunna Wuczynski, Nicole Meyers and Lauren Lin. According to Lin, they "collected eight full boxes of backpacks, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc."

When asked about the inspiration for this effort, Wuczynski explained,

“My husband, Billy Wuczynski, is a college basketball coach [Boston College], and he used to coach at TCU in Fort Worth, TX,” said Wuczynski. “We have previous players and friends that lived in Houston. After seeing the news reports and all the schools that were effected, I felt horrible … I was thinking what could we do to help these children and families and schools … I saw Houston ISD was in need of school supplies to start completely over, so that when the idea started.”

"Being at Hardy School and knowing how well our school community comes together for anything,” Wuczynski continued, “I asked my friend, Sabrina Cropp, how [we could] set up this drive. She got me in touch with Lauren Lin, and she was totally on board. Nicole Myers felt the same way as me and has helped me with everything. She went right to work on creating flyers, emails, etc. We had a SignUpGenius for the parents and children to help make sign and to stand outside at drop-off for all the donations. The Hardy School students were unbelievable with holding those signs high, and in the rain, too - all four days! We received eight large boxes of school supplies. Then it was time to find shipping! That's When Anthony Baglio of DHL in Boston contacted me saying they would love to pick up the boxes and get them to Houston for us at no cost. He had his driver, Kris DeMarco, come the next day and pick them up, and allowed the Hardy School kids to help him, as well. It was a successful event".

Lin is regarded by friends and neighbors as a "community service veteran,” having successfully organized nine projects over the last academic year, including Refugee Boxes, Walk Away Homelessness, and Children's Hospital Activity Books, among others.

"I do this because we live in a privileged area and are able to shelter our children from many hardships others experience,” said Lin, “but I think it is important for our kids to know that they are lucky and have a responsibility to help out because they are able to. It also helps them develop empathy and social awareness. There was a quote that I read shortly after college that really resonated with me, and started me volunteering in Boston Cares and taking on chairing the committee. It went something like: ‘The decency of a society is measured by how it treats its most vulnerable members.’ I like that.”

"I think that since I and Nicole Myers have been in hurricanes and know what it like, it hit home for both of us,” added Wuczynski, reflecting on the relief effort’s personal importance to her. “It's important for our children and children from other Wellesley school communities to see people come together to help others. A lot of parents took their kids with them to shop and had them pick up things they thought were important for the school children in Houston to have. The donation drive was very successful and know children and school in Houston will benefit from our help and they will get back to normal.”

“Growing up in Florida, you really can’t help but get used to the threat of hurricanes as a part of life,” said Myers. “Hurricane season after season, I’ll always remember preparing for a potential 'big one.’ Thankfully, we were always spared. To be living so far away now, yet still having my family and friends there and in the direct path of a potentially devastating storm feels very helpless. So when Shaunna reached out to me to join her, I couldn't hesitate.

“It was a way to make a difference for a place I care deeply about.”