Through the Year Browning Carries Forth Mission to Serve “Broader Community”

Since the start of the 2015 school year, Browning boys have earnestly taken to heart the School’s mission statement that they be responsible “to the broader community” by lending a helping hand to a number of charitable organizations. Lower School boys led a successful initiative to benefit City Harvest, an organization that provides food to the hungry in New York City. They also participated in the annual McDonald Fun Run in Central Park, which raises money for temporary housing for children diagnosed with cancer. Read original story.

Members of the Middle School Student Council organized another successful Thanksgiving Food Drive and Dress Down Day in November to benefit the New York Common Pantry. Together these efforts collected 460 pounds of food and raised $1,298.07, an amount to buy enough food to feed 37 families.

The boys and their faculty advisors, Megan Ryan and Dan Ragsdale, are grateful to members of the Browning community for their generous support of this long-standing tradition.

Upper School Student Council members hosted a Dress Down Day in October, with boys and faculty encouraged to wear a pink apparel item in support of Susan G. Komen®, a non-profit organization dedicated to “saving lives and ending breast cancer forever.” The fundraiser raised a total of $1,956.75. As part of this effort, the varsity soccer team donned pink uniforms to raise awareness while on the field.

Team member Micah B. ’17 said, “To wear a special pink jersey for a game this season was fun and a really nice touch. It was exciting to go out onto the field in spirit and promote a really good cause with the hope it will lead to other teams raising awareness as well. It is a new tradition that I am proud will continue in seasons to come.”

Earlier this year, Director of Athletics Andrew West ’92 and Modern Languages Chair Megan Ryan coordinated a donation effort for a school in Kenya. Stephen Fleischer ’10 served as the link between Browning and the Kenyan school, Our Lady of Nazareth, where Stephen volunteered this past year. Athletic jerseys, chess sets, games and school supplies were among some of the items given as a result of the collaboration between Mr. Fleischer and Coach West. “Thanks to the generosity of The Browning School, we were able to equip this Kenyan school with basketballs, uniforms, whistles, practice pennies and even a referee’s uniform,” said Mr. Fleischer. “We created Our Lady of Nazareth’s first competitive sports team. Teamwork, sportsmanship and competition are just three of the many benefits that this basketball team imparts to its members.”