Students at Lander-Grinspoon Academy Raise Funds for Victims of Hadley Business Plaza Fire

Posted on December 10, 2013

NORTHAMPTON — Students at Lander-Grinspoon Academy raised more than $100 to help owners of businesses destroyed in an Oct. 27 fire at the Norwottuck Shoppes plaza in Hadley.

The fire, which is still under investigation, affected more than a dozen small businesses housed at the plaza on Route 9, including International Food Market, Banh Mi Saigon restaurant, Greggory’s Pastry Shop, Casabalanca Halal Market, Mi Tierra restaurant and College Pro Computers.

“This particular local cause hit home for students,” Gail Lansky, admissions and marketing director for Lander-Grinspoon, said in an email message to the Gazette.

“One first-grader was in tears when she heard the news that her favorite restaurant had burned down. Other children regularly went there with their families,” she added.

First- and second-graders at the Northampton Jewish day school met with the owners of Mi Tierra recently to show their support and talk about their fund drive in support of businesses harmed by the fire.

“They asked her about her recipes, when they will rebuild and what the owners are doing now,” Lansky said.

The fundraising effort coincided with students’ study of literature about the Jewish principal of tzedakah, or charitable giving. Students in the academy’s younger grades have also been raising funds for relief efforts for survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Phillipines, Lansky said.

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