CONTACT: Veronica Douglas-Givan Director of Communications & External Affairs Bridgeport Public Schools Cell: 203.572.4804 Office: 203.275.1015

Bridgeport Public Schools

Press Release

SWEET DREAMS TO COME FOR BRIDGEPORT STUDENTS IN NEED THROUGH THE PAJAMA PROGRAM

Event:          Bridgeport Public Schools to Collect Books and Pajamas for Children in Need

When:          Tuesday, November 9, 2010, 9:30am

Where:        Bridgeport City Hall Council Chambers

                      45 Lyon Terrace

                      Bridgeport

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 - In an effort to aid Bridgeport scholars, who may be financially disadvantaged, the Bridgeport Public Schools will collect new pajamas and books for children of all ages. On Tuesday, November 9, 2010 the BPS will kick off the first round of deliveries for the Pajama Program.

The event is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in City Hall Council Chambers at 45 Lyon Terrace in Bridgeport.

The Pajama Program, a 501(c)(3) organization, which provides comfort and love in the way of new pajamas and books to children-in-need, many waiting and hoping to be adopted. Snuggling up in new, warm pajamas with their very own book to read gives lonely children a secure and nurturing bedtime environment.  The surrounding community can help make a difference by: donating new pajamas—all sizes are needed, donating new books, and/or make a financial donation.

Foster care mom Sheree Breeden of the Department of Children and Families in Bridgeport will share her personal experience with the Pajama Program, how it has made a tremendous impact on her family, and how it continues to benefit hundreds of children in Bridgeport and many more statewide. “The smile when a child is handed a pair of pajamas with his favorite character on it,” she describes in detail. “Words sometimes cannot truly express how a gift can touch someone’s heart.”

Although the Bridgeport Public Schools is making an effort to support and nurture Bridgeport youths through this event, the Pajama Program has traditionally served many children that have been abused or those who have been abandoned, and have never enjoyed the feeling of having a mother or father tuck them in with a story at bedtime.

For more information about the Pajama Program, please visit their website at www.pajamaprogram.org.

The mission of the Bridgeport Public Schools and its supporting community is to graduate all students “college ready” and prepared to succeed in life.  For more information about Bridgeport Public Schools visit our website at www.bridgeportedu.com.

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