More Than 1,500 Books Donated to McCarthy Elementary

Two weeks ago today, McCarthy Elementary staff and parents learned that one of the school’s wings was flooded with 2 inches of water, after a pipe froze and burst.

Nine classrooms and the teacher’s lounge was damaged.

Staffers and members of the PTO immediately jumped into action to clean-up and replace damaged supplies, including the classroom libraries.

Unfortunately, those kindergarten and first grade classrooms will likely remain closed for the rest of the school year.

But the good news in the unexpected disaster was the support and the generosity of the community.

“First and foremost we truly are overwhelmed and humbled by the outpouring of support from the community at large,” said Mccarthy Elementary PTO Co-President Kara Fink.

More than 1,500 books had been donated to McCarthy Elementary School by the weekend.

Many of the donation were anonymous, but several came from other schools.

Dunning Elementary gave extra book swap books to McCarthy, said Taube Vallabha, who helped organize the book collection for the PTO and the school.

Three boxes of books from Amazon arrived anonymously, said Vallabha.

She said former teachers, Genzyme, Wayland Public Library, the Pine Hill School in Sherborn, and Saint Bridget School in Framingham made book donations.

Saint Bridget School donated hundreds upon hundreds of books. One class at the PreK to grade 8 Catholic school set a goal of collecting 200 books, but instead donated 370 books.

“Mrs. Wardyga’s fifth grade class, who took books from their own collections at home, and collected over 370 books,” said Saint Bridget Admissions Officer Jennifer Ryan.

“Thanks to everyone’s donations,” said Fink. “We are able to replace the books that were lost and then some.”

At this point, McCarthy is NOT in need of any more books.

Fink said “Any books not used by the McCarthy community will be donated to other places that may need them. We will make sure each book finds a good home.”

Vallabha said some of the extra books will be donated to the United Way’s Ready to Read program and the Framingham Public Library.

Framingham-based organizations in need of books should contact Vallabha through the McCarthy PTO.

Besides books, games and toys were also donated to the kindergarten and first grade classrooms, said Vallabha.

“We also appreciate the generosity shown in monetary donations given. We have been able to provide for immediate classroom needs and for other things such as recess equipment for the K/1. We received numerous donations of recess equipment as well for which we are most grateful,” said Fink. “The McCarthy community looks forward to finding ways to pay it forward in the future.”

Last week, the teachers who were displaced and are now teaching their kindergarten and first grade students across the street at Fuller Middle School sent a letter to the editor to Framingham Patch thanking the community for the support.

They wrote: “Your donations, offers of help, and well-wishes have eased enough of our worries so we have been able to direct our energy towards our students, as we welcomed them to our new classrooms on Monday. The way that Framingham as a whole has rallied around us has been truly amazing, and we are grateful for all that you have done for each of us.”

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Photo courtesy of Saint Bridget School