The UFT Pride Committee honored five high school students with $1,000 scholarships at its third Daniel Dromm Scholarship ceremony, held virtually on June 5.

In a four-hour We Feed NYC telethon on Feb. 13, the UFT raised more than $310,000 from its members and corporate donors to feed New York families struggling with food insecurity as a result of the pandemic. 

What do you do when your wedding in Sicily — in the church where your father was christened — has to be canceled due to the coronavirus? One Brooklyn educator decided to “take an epic honeymoon to Tanzania,” and benefit some schoolchildren to boot.

Children benefited from a robust spirit of giving during the December holidays. The union’s Elementary Schools Division collected nearly $22,000 to spend on thousands of toys while UFT members donated hundreds more that were distributed to children in need. Meanwhile, the UFT’s Brooklyn borough office teamed up with First Book to give away about 4,000 books to 200 families.

The UFT Teacher Center, which typically provides professional learning for educators, expanded its mandate during this unprecedented school year to provide a free program of student enrichment — tailored to different age groups — on three consecutive Saturdays in December to help build learning for thousands of students from pre-k through high school. 

The UFT stepped up to help New Yorkers confronting hunger because of the pandemic through its We Feed NYC initiative, which supports community-based food pantries in high-need neighborhoods across the five boroughs. By mid-January, in partnership with local restaurants, We Feed NYC had delivered 20,000 hot meals.