Ferri guidance counselor’s efforts to benefit 30 families

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SPECIAL ELF: In an office packed with presents, Ferri Middle School guidance counselor Karen Pezzullo has collected enough donations to fully provide for 30 families this Christmas.

There’s a special elf at Ferri Middle School who has gone out of her way to ensure that 30 local families who may have gone without this Christmas will now have a holiday to remember.

Thanks to the continued dedication and organization of guidance councilor Karen Pezzullo, hundreds of presents along with gift cards were recently collected to be disbursed to families in need just in time for the holidays.

“Here I am again with all the presents. It’s been a great success again,” said Karen.

For the last 15 years, Pezzullo has orchestrated a gift drive with the help of fellow teachers, students, anonymous donors and with a group called Angels Among Us to provide presents and more for families struggling in town. Karen’s been with the school for the last 22 years, first as a social studies teacher, then as a guidance counselor for the last 16 years.

According to Karen, every team and the administration in the school took responsibility to provide for a family. She’s already started to distribute the gifts to families, which will continue until Christmas, and is again thrilled to help where she can.

Benefiting families, which are chosen by a lottery based on teacher recommendations and financial need, receives gifts ranging from clothes, sneakers, shoes, basic essentials and something fun in the form of a toy or game. Entire families, not just children, benefit from the endeavor.

“We do everything, from soup to nuts,” she said, adding that she coordinates the entire project from her second floor office.

She wraps each present, along with helpers, and signs each gift “From Santa.” She expects nothing in return for her efforts, but hopes to pay it forward and share the magic of Christmas that she once had.

“I was a receiver of gifts like these as a kid,” said Karen. “It made me very grateful. I was the youngest of five girls, and I was so grateful and it had a great impact on me. We used to get help at Thanksgiving, too. That’s why I do what I do. I know what this can mean for a family.”