about Hallyboy
Founded in the honor and memory of Hal Brien Spergel, a brother, husband, father, uncle, and mentor. In his name, we, Hallyboy, pursue the tireless effort with our supporters and community to help children in need because that is what Hal Spergel did. We aim to continue on his path to creating a positive impact among the elementary school community to make lasting ripple effects in his name, or rather his cherished nickname, we continue to honor his legacy by effecting positive change in our schools. We are a 501(c)(3) charity accepting tax-deductible donations to purchase school supplies for poverty-level elementary schools, also known as Title 1 schools.​
Hal Brien Spergel
Hal (a/k/a Hallyboy) was a family man, musician, business owner and all-around good person. He took an interest in Little League baseball, starting as an assistant coach, eventually heading up the league in his hometown. When he saw that competing teams from poorer parts of the state could not afford uniforms, he anonymously bought them. He made a purely unscientific observation that those same youngsters seemed to play better with uniforms
Meet The Family
Maxyne – Founder – is Hal’s sister. With her background in life coaching, she determined to honor Hal’s memory by finding Title I (poverty level) elementary schools and outfitting students with backpacks filled with school supplies, and donating library books to classrooms. Richard – Director – Hal’s brother-in-law and Maxyne’s husband, when presented with the idea of Hallyboy Foundation, jumped in with both feet. As a life coach as well, Richard leads with a can-do attitude that has taken HF from 33 backpacks and 100 books to this year’s projected 1,000 backpacks and 2,000 books. Steven – Director – Hal’s nephew and Maxyne and Richard’s younger son, has volunteered since HF’s inception, and is the brains behind the website. He is determined to take Hallyboy Foundation into the future and into the hearts and minds of thousands of people.
Importance of Backpacks with Supplies ad Library Books
The obvious answer is because children need supplies at the beginning of the school year and throughout. The not-so-obvious answer is because children who start school without the proper physical tools have a greater chance of falling behind. Families who are financially stressed are often focused on putting food on the table, and notebooks and pencils have to take a back seat to that. Teaching is probably the only profession where the employee steals supplies from home and brings them into work. As it is, teachers are hardly paid what they are worth. They can’t keep spending personal money on basic student needs. School libraries have a hard time keeping as many quality books on hand as will serve their student population, as budgets are stretched beyond their limits. Even entering newly purchased books into their library system takes personnel and time that school districts can’t spare. The solution is creating class libraries with enough books that even when children forget to bring books back from home, there is still more than enough to go around.