Coin by coin, the John F. Kennedy School students raised $800 over the past several months to help fundraising efforts to save the Stepping Stones Lighthouse.
On Monday, Great Neck Historical Society president Alice Kasten and town and park district officials said thank you to the elementary school students at a special presentation at the school.
“The kids have done so much to raise awareness for the lighthouse,” she said. “They certainly brought in their pennies.”
Kasten also presented certificates to nearly 50 students who did projects on behalf of the lighthouse, such as poems and posters intended to persuade people in the community to help save the lighthouse. The top two winners in each grade also received a Stepping Stones Lighthouse T-shirt.
Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth, who was also in attendance, said that by participating in the program, the students were not only helping raise funds to save the lighthouse but also learning about Great Neck’s history as well.
“At one time school-aged children lived in the lighthouse,” Bosworth said. “It’s so fitting that 100 years later you all stepped up to help save the Stepping Stones Lighthouse and preserve its history.”
Bosworth said if the funds can’t be raised to save the lighthouse, it will be torn down and replaced with a beacon on a pole to guide ships.
The Great Neck Park District, the Great Neck Historical Society and the Town of North Hempstead have all agreed to enter into an inter-municipal agreement to raise funds to restore the lighthouse, Kasten said.
The lighthouse, which was built in 1877, has been in disrepair for years.
The efforts to raise funds to repair the lighthouse started in August when the park district and the historical society teamed up with the town to repair the structure, after years of neglect had left it in need of $4 million in repairs.
The National Park Service in 2012 threatened to take ownership of the lighthouse from the town, which was awarded stewardship of the structure in 2008 under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, after repairs to the structure went undone.
Kasten said the idea for JFK School students to raise money began when she and Great Neck Park District Commissioner Robert Lincoln were selling Stepping Stone Lighthouse T-shirts at the Village of Great Neck Plaza Street Fair and Auto Fest in September.
She said JFK School Principal Ronald Gimondo approached her and Lincoln about helping to save the lighthouse.
Gimondo said Monday that since he brought the idea of helping to save the lighthouse to the students, they have been debating what can be done.
JFK School Assistant princial Kathy Murray said the student council put “penny pots” in each classroom for students to put loose change in.
“They’ve been contributing every day,” Gimondo said. “It’s a wonderful civics lesson and it’s a wonderful community project.”
Town Councilwoman Anna Kaplan thanked the children for making others aware of the lighthouse’s importance.
“The lighthouse is a very special place,” Kaplan said. “What’s even more special is people like you, the future residents and future leaders who understand the importance of preserving this historical place for the next generation.”
Entertainment was provided at the presentation by folk singer Dave Sear, a Great Neck resident and sailor.
Sear taught the children and their parents some sea shanties and folk songs and sang three songs including Woodie Guthrie’s classic “This Land is Your Land,” which almost all the children sang along to.
Sear said that as a sailor and as a Great Neck resident he would like to see the lighthouse saved.
