KIPP gets generous donations

LYNN-Donors from affluent communities like Marblehead and Swampscott flooded the KIPP Academy Lynn Charter School with generosity this holiday season, helping many less fortunate students to bring home gifts for their families.Flagship Travel owner Joel Abramson and his wife, Mary, of Swampscott helped many students by donating over 75 gift baskets filled with items for parents and siblings of all ages so that KIPP students could have something to give to their family on Christmas morning.KIPP Community of Friends Chairman and Director John Wilder and board member Maurice Richard also got in on the act, dropping off more than 100 Christmas stockings stuffed with gifts for the school’s neediest students. Many of the gifts, which included winter clothing and hats as well as games and toys, were donated by members of the Marblehead community.Finally, Swampscott resident Tom Demakis, president of Old Neighborhood Foods in Lynn, donated a gift box of food for every KIPP family, including fresh meats to be served at the family holiday dinner.For a school with a 90 percent poverty rate, the generosity of those who are more fortunate is a welcome gift each holiday season as they continue to study to bring a better life to their family.