TURNERS FALLS — Turners Falls High School’s Athletic Leadership Council and Helping Hands Committee accepted a $2,500 check from Montague Elks Lodge 2521 for their charity work within the community during a school assembly Tuesday morning.

“The Montague Elks do amazing things for our community ... and they help us here with our school, and it’s really appreciated,” said physical education teacher and Athletic Director Adam Graves, who directs the Athletic Leadership Council and Helping Hands Committee.

The Athletic Leadership Council, a group of student athletes in good academic standing, and the Helping Hands Committee, a school charity organization, have served the school district’s disadvantaged families in a variety of ways. In 2022, the groups helped provide winter clothing, 26 Thanksgiving dinners and 30 meals during winter break to those in need around the community. They also aided needy families throughout the year through their discreet take-home meal assistance program.

“The only way that’s done is through donations,” Turners Falls High School Principal Christopher Barnes noted.

Over the past three years, Graves said the Elks Lodge has “donated large amounts of money” to the student organizations, having donated $1,000 in 2021 and $2,500 in 2022. This year’s $2,500 allotment was presented by former Elks District Deputy Steve Dacyczyn and former Exalted Ruler Judy Dacyczyn before a full school audience on Tuesday.

“We raise money all throughout the whole year in order to be able to donate it to the various charitable, needy organizations,” Steve Dacyczyn said.

“This one is very near and dear to our hearts,” Judy Dacyczyn added.

Graves noted that such a “huge amount of money” can exponentially increase the organizations’ capacity to give. Goods donated during the last winter break cost $516, he said, meaning future charity work could viably quintuple in magnitude.

Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-930-4231 or jmendoza@recorder.com.

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