La Jolla students hold fundraisers for Sandy relief

By Ashley Mackin

Students at La Jolla Elementary and Muirlands Middle Schools recently did their part to raise funds for Superstorm Sandy relief efforts — one with a photo booth and the other with a bake sale.

LJES, through its Service Learning Program, hosted a photo booth at the Open Aire Market over the past few weeks to raise $258 for the American Red Cross. Supporters had their pictures taken behind a backdrop of a surfer and mermaid with the faces cut out.

Cynthia Kronemyer, the mother of Muirlands school twins who went through LJES and started the Service Learning Program, said she is glad to see it put to good use. “I don’t think there is anything more important that we could possibly teach kids than doing service for other people,” Kronemyer said. Past efforts included students selling Valentines to benefit the victims of the Haiti earthquake in January 2010.

The Muirlands Middle School bake sale, with a little help from Hoboken Pizza in Pacific Beach, raised $400 for the Hoboken Rotary in New Jersey. Organizer Laurie Weiss, a friend of the mayor of Hoboken, has a personal connection to the cause. After the bake sale raised $200 on Nov. 11, Weiss paid a call on Hoboken Pizza which matched the funds with an additional $200.

Weiss said she was proud of her own children, Rafi and Talia, both students in their first year at Muirlands and the other children who participated in the Bake Sale.

“I am continually impressed that my kids and their friends don’t hesitate to give of themselves,” she said. “Whether it’s due to living in the small town of La Jolla, or from participating in service learning at school, I am really pleased with the values they are developing.”