The New Jersey Association of Student Councils (NJASC) announced last week at their Spring Awards Program that Mercer County’s own Christine’s Hope for Kids will be the NJASC’s charity of the year for the school year 2014-15.
NJASC is the oldest state Student Council Association in the United States with members from high schools and middle schools, both public and private, through New Jersey. Each year, NJASC collects donations from Student Councils throughout New Jersey, as part of their “State Charity” program, to support a charity selected by the State Officers elected to represent all the student leaders of the state. Over three million dollars has been raised since the inception of the State Charity program thirty years ago.
“We are excited and looking forward to traveling the state and meeting with all of the schools and great kids in this program. And we are overwhelmed when we think of the impact this will have on kids in need here in New Jersey,” shared Christine’s Hope.
Christine’s Hope for Kids is a Mercer County non-profit named in memory and driven by the spirit of the Christine, the daughter of Christine’s Hope founders Jean and John Gianacaci. In January of 2010, 22 year old Christine Gianacaci of Hopewell Township and several of her classmates from Lynn University, traveled to Haiti on a mission to help children and to feed the poor. When a massive earthquake struck on January 12th, the Hotel Montana in Port-Au-Prince collapsed and Christine, along with 3 other students and two professors, were killed.
Through charitable support, Christine’s Hope for Kids makes donations to benefit underprivileged children, from sending kids to summer camp, providing educational support, helping children learn to swim, providing children with new pajamas and books to read, or helping to purchase new and safe athletic equipment.
NJASC hopes to meet the goal of donating $122,014.15 to Christine’s Hope.
