Dear Pine Bush parents and staff,
I hope you are having a relaxing and rewarding weekend. I have a couple of important announcements today. First is news about the free masks that I mentioned in some previous calls that have now arrived for us to distribute. These cloth, washable masks come five to a package, and we will be handing them out to each family next Tuesday, May 12, as part of our regular meal distribution program. Masks will be available at all three locations: Family Church in Middletown, Circleville Middle School, and Pine Bush High School. The times are from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of our great Orange County government Office of Emergency Management for providing these to our families. Now that masks are required when you go out in public, I’m sure they will be appreciated by all who receive them.
And while I’m sharing thanks, I want to acknowledge some other recent donations to our free meals for kids program. The Coalition for Healthier Schools gave us five pallets of gimMe roasted seaweed snacks. For folks like me who enjoy salty snacks, this will be a real treat! Our friends from Kohls department store have donated 100 cases of bottled water, and an anonymous donor is sending us 200 cases of Chobani yogurt. All of these will be factored into our food distribution over the coming weeks. This week alone, we distributed over 17,000 meals!
The second announcement for today is a request. We’re asking for folks who might have men’s large long sleeve buttoned shirts to donate them. A local nursing home wants to use them in place of the disposable gowns they have been using and throwing away daily. The shirts can be washed and reused as personal protective equipment or PPE. You can drop off these shirts here at our District Office at 156 Route 302 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday.
One last thing – a reminder. If you haven’t yet completed the survey about personal belongings, please be sure you so before 5 p.m. tomorrow night, Monday, May 11. The link to the survey is here and at the very top of our homepage.
Tomorrow night I’ll be back with information about this year’s school elections – your vote on the school budget and on two seats for our Board of Education.
Until then, keep social distancing, wear a mask when you’re in public, and still wash your hands for at least 20 seconds often. The numbers in New York State will keep coming down if we all keep doing our part.
Tim O. Mains, Pine Bush Superintendent