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Youth Raise Funds for Katrina Victims Bridgewater Pupils Sell Crafts, Collect $1,000 for Red Cross, Miss. Classroom

Posted on: Friday, 11 November 2005, 15:00 CST

By RACHEL RICE; OF THE NEWS STAFF

BRIDGEWATER - Local officials call Bridgewater Grammar School the "little school with a big heart."

Though there are just 40 elementary pupils in the four-room schoolhouse, they've managed to raise $1,000 for hurricane relief efforts. The school is donating $300 to the local chapter of the American Red Cross, but to make the donation a little more personal to each student, the rest of the money is going to a displaced elementary school in Mississippi.

"The kids wanted to do something after Hurricane Katrina happened," Principal Ellen Schneider said Thursday, recalling the project's inception.

So the pre-K to grade 6 pupils sold handmade ribbons and beaded key chains, and collected coins in a money can. The plan was to give the money to the Red Cross, but after learning about the many schools in need, local officials decided to do something extra special - send money to one particular school in an effort to make a difference there.

"I think this gives the kids a connection that they're doing something that's going to help," Schneider said. "It puts a face on [the relief effort] for them; it makes it real to them."

The money is going to the Charles B. Murphy Elementary School in Pearlington, Miss., which was badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina. According to Jeanne Brooks, the school's librarian and lead teacher, when Katrina pounded the Gulf Coast, a 30-foot wall of water hit Pearlington, knocking houses off their foundations and causing major flooding and tree damage. With the school being used as a shelter and distribution center, the students and teachers were given classroom space at Hancock Middle School in Kiln, Miss., 20 miles away.

Of the 115 students, only 59 came back. Right now, the school's seven teachers have set up classrooms in trailers outside the middle school while rebuilding efforts are underway.

Brooks said Thursday from one of the makeshift classrooms that while Bridgewater's donation is one of many, it is greatly appreciated.

"The fact that another school or teacher has stopped and thought about what's happening in a little, bitty place in the United States like us is pretty incredible," she said. "It means as much to us as if it had been thousands of dollars, because it was heartfelt."

Bridgewater school officials are mailing the check, a large box of school supplies, cards from the children and a special DVD to Mississippi today.

The DVD, which will introduce the pupils at Bridgewater Grammar School to those at Murphy Elementary School, includes a guided tour of the central Aroostook County school. Sixth-grader Whitney Klein, 12, served as one of the "guides" on the DVD tour and said Thursday that she was excited both to help the Mississippi kids learn about her school and help them get back on their feet.

"It feels good to help people out," she said. "They lost everything, so it feels good to help them get their school back."

Nine-year-old Shyanna Smith, a fourth-grader, said she was proud her school was able to raise "a lot of money."

"Because of the hurricane, all their stuff got wrecked," she said. "I feel good because I know I'm going to be able to help someone."

And while helping others is the big reward of the project, pupils are hoping for a little something in return.

"We're hoping once they get their feet under them, we'll be able to correspond," Schneider said. "The students are anxious to stay in contact."

Source: Bangor Daily News

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