Paris Elementary School student Bradley Sincyr-Newbert (left) with his mother Cindy Newbert on Tuesday after they delivered school supplies to help the school’s teachers keep their classrooms stocked. Nicole Carter / Advertiser Democrat
PARIS — Last summer Bradley Sincyr-Newbert, going into the fourth grade at Paris Elementary School, decided his classmates needed new backpacks and he did something about it. He started a backpack drive and not only did his donation campaign take in 31 new backpacks, but they were also filled with school supplies.
This year Sincyr-Newbert wanted to help out his school again. This time, he settled on supporting PES teachers and launched a drive to make sure educators at his school had classroom supplies to start the school year.
Sincyr-Newbert began mowing lawns in his neighborhood and ran a lemonade stand at Moore Park to raise money.
“I mowed about five lawns over the summer, starting at the end of June,” he said. “And on August 3, I set up a lemonade stand at the park. That day I made $271 selling lemonade.”
All told, Sincyr-Newbert raised around $450 on his own. He also collected donations from several businesses to collect more money. He lobbied Oxford Federal Credit Union, Bessey Motors, Pratt & Sons, and JBK Construction for more funds, and secured a storage tote full of school supplies from Wheeler’s Insurance. Hannaford donated cups and lemonade ingredients for the lemonade stand.
On Tuesday Sincyr-Newbert and his mother Cindy Newbert delivered all the supplies he collected and purchased to PES Principal Lori Pacholski and her staff.
Paris Elementary School Principal Lori Packolski (left) accepted boxes of school supplies from student Bradley Sincyr-Newbert on Tuesday. He worked all summer working and raising money to help his teachers stock supplies for their classrooms. Supplied photo
“Teachers need help with supplies,” Sincyr-Newbert said. “And it’s not fair when they don’t [have help] and use their own money to buy things.”
Asked how it felt to put so much work into helping his school, Sincyr-Newbert said community service makes him happy and proud of himself.
Mom Cindy is extremely proud as well.
“This is all his work,” she said. “He has lots of big ideas about ways to help others.”
Sincyr-Newbert worked hard all summer, but he found balance by taking weekends off to spend time with his dad having fun.
He returned to fifth grade yesterday. He said he’s taking a break from fundraising, but only for a little while. His next goal is to come up with a plan for a Christmas-related fundraiser.
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