Students at Tuxedo Park School listened to a speaker last month who motivated the entire student body to embark upon a mission to help.

Fiona Duffy, a resident of Saddle River and a TPS faculty member, spoke to the fourth through sixth grade students about her experience volunteering last summer in a hospital for terminally ill and abandoned children in Bucharest, Romania. After describing the unbelievable pain and utter poverty in which these children live, Mrs. Duffy also shared stories about touching moments with the children who don’t have toys, clothes, or even sufficient diapers. “When mothers come to stay at the hospital with their children, they come with nothing. Some children are left for medical care and then abandoned,” Duffy explained to the students.

Mrs. Duffy and a group of her colleagues in Ireland, in an attempt to bring some dignity to these children and their parents, have initiated the “Friends of Bucharest Children’s Hospital” pajama drive. Upon hearing about this effort, the Tuxedo Park School students immediately decided to donate the funds from their upcoming bake sale to the children in Bucharest (rather than their initial plan of buying a panini maker for the TPS lunch room). The TPS Student Council also responded by initiating a school-wide pajama drive and planned two more bake sales. The third grade class, on their monthly visit to Promenade at Tuxedo Place, made blankets with the Promenade residents to donate to the Bucharest children.

Seeing this school-wide response, Mrs. Duffy stated, “When I spoke to the students about possibly getting involved in helping these children, the students wholeheartedly responded. They have been truly excited about impacting the lives of the children in Bucharest, and they can’t wait for the updates on how many pajamas they’ve collected and how much money they have raised. I am thankful for their compassion and leadership.”

Mrs. Duffy will take the pajamas and donations to her colleagues in Ireland this month who will deliver the donations to Bucharest. Ultimately, the Tuxedo Park School donation will include over 250 pairs of pajamas, 3 homemade blankets, and over $1,400 worth of strollers and supplies. Mrs. Duffy remarked, “The Tuxedo Park School students have truly put their hearts into this effort to bring some level of comfort, warmth, and dignity, to these less fortunate children.”

Since 1900, Tuxedo Park School has provided a safe, nurturing educational community for students in Pre-K through the freshman year where intellectual curiosity, hard work, creativity, integrity, and the joy of learning mark each day. Although the school is located in New York, one-third of the student body lives in Bergen County, NJ.

For more information visit www.tuxedoparkschool.org