Forest Hills’ PS196 raises money for St. Jude’s

By Allison Plitt

The Grand Central Parkway School, PS196Q, in Forest Hills is trying to get its name changed to “The School With a Heart.” Judging by the amount of money the public elementary school raised for St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital this past spring, the name change is a suitable fit.

This year, PS196Q students raised $42,025.19 for the cause. Catherine Koatz, the school’s assistant principal, started the St. Jude’s campaign in 2005 when she was working there as a math coach. Because the fund-raiser, called a “Math-a-Thon,” involves children doing grade-level math problems while raising money, Koatz found the campaign to be appropriate for her math students as well as exposing them to the opportunity of helping others.

During Koatz’s first year running the St. Jude’s campaign, the school raised $4,199.55. Since then, she has run the fund-raiser eight other years, resulting in the school raising a total of $116,869.23.

With the students progressively raising more money each year, it has become an annual event that the children look forward to. Not only do students ask their families to give money to the fund-raiser, but their families have asked co-workers, neighbors, local business, friends and other relatives to donate.

“The feedback that I received most often is that it gives parents an opportunity to speak with their children about charity and it’s something that children can relate to because it’s about children and so it gives them an opening to have discussions about how can you help, what can you do,” Koatz commented.

According to St. Jude’s website (www.stjude.org), the hospital’s philosophy is that “families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing, and food—because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.”

Since it opened 50 years ago, treatments developed at St. Jude’s have helped increase the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent. The majority of the funding for St. Jude’s comes from individual donors.

A few years ago, PS196Q found out one of its parents had a nephew who had been diagnosed and treated at St. Jude’s.

“There are lots and lots of those moments through the years where it has been so gratifying to know that through the process that parents are able to have those conversations with their children and the children are coming back with a message that it’s important helping others,” Koatz said.