On May 1, 2007, the Foundation awarded the first Alexander Capelluto Award to Sloane Heller, a junior at Horace Mann. Through her project, Sloane will be organizing regular visits by a group of students to work and play with the children at a battered women’s shelter in the Bronx.
Sloane writes: “This project focuses simply on bringing joy to children who have precious little to be joyful for……Our events [will] not only allow these children to laugh, play, and generally be children, but also give their mothers some much needed time to relax.”
The award will cover the project’s expenses incurred during the 2007-08 academic year.
The award panel also granted funding to Isaiah Einzig who proposed a project aimed at answering randomly-selected children’s letters to Santa Claus and sending an anonymous Christmas gift to the letter writers.