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Beit Rabban Day School, a progressive Jewish day school for children in Nursery-8th Grade, warmed up the Upper West Side on the eve of the Thanksgiving Day Parade with their own Giving Thanks Thanksgiving Parade.
The whole school paraded around the Upper West Side chanting songs of gratitude and holding home-made signs of thanks, stopping at “community helpers” to deliver Shoeboxes-O-Thanks filled with small tokens of gratitude. Some of your favorite West Side institutions that the students visited included the St. Agnes library, the Wild Bird Fund, our local police station, our local fire station, Cafe Matto, our local Urgent Care, a neighborhood dentist, and representative Helen Rosenthal. Students also stopped to thank other people we noticed along the way. They thanked sanitation department workers, construction crews, crossing guards, caregivers, doormen, yoga teachers, food truck workers and everyone else we encountered.
The neighborhood helpers we visited were overwhelmed with gratitude at being publicly recognized and thanked by Beit Rabban students and teachers, some even cried from emotion! A local dentist wrote: “I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed a Thanksgiving visit from your 2nd graders and staff this morning. It was truly the highlight of my day. It is I that should be thanking you for such a wonderful and unexpected visit.”
Beit Rabban Head of School Stephanie Ives shared how proud she was of the students on Thanksgiving Eve, explaining than “It obviously feels incredible to be thanked. The amazing thing Beit Rabban students experienced this Thanksgiving is that the act of thanking others feels even better. This is one of the most important lessons our children can learn.”
You can find out more about Beit Rabban Day School and upcoming free programs, like our Sunday 12/8 Chanukah celebration, at www.beitrabban.org.
