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“It’s like winning the lottery,” Karen Kaner, a a Memorial School special education language arts instructor who has been teaching in Little Ferry for 42 years, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “Books for every class at school!”
The kindergarten classrooms were among several buildings in Little Ferry and Moonachie that were flooded by a tidal surge during Hurricane Sandy.
Kaner, who is also president of the Little Ferry Public Library Council, contacted Scholastic seeking help in replacing damaged books. She was directed to an online grant application.
Kaner, who taught pre-school for 16 years, has conducted annual schoolwide “Bear Hugs for the Holiday” drives for more than a decade, gathering hundreds of bears and other stuffed animals for patients at Holy Name Hospital. She calls it a “very easy yet positive” way for borough youngsters to give back.
Whenever someone in town is in need, the popular teacher said, “people in Little Ferry are always there to help.”
This time, though, she was the one receiving a wonderful gift: an email from Scholastic that the application was approved.
“Needless to say, I was astonished,” Kaner told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “I am still in shock at the number.”
The books will be collected the first week of January.
But it gets better: Looks like Moonachie will be getting its own shipment, as well.
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