San Benito County students continue collecting change, planning
dances, forming clubs and sending school supplies to their
counterparts in Louisiana and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast who were
devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Hollister – San Benito County students continue collecting change, planning dances, forming clubs and sending school supplies to their counterparts in Louisiana and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast who were devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Last Friday, Marguerite Maze Middle School sent 56 boxes containing 254 backpacks stuffed with school supplies to Creekside Junior High School in Pearl River, Louisiana, Principal Bernice Smith said.
Kathleen Berry, a teacher at Maze Middle, heard that the Creekside community had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. A community member picked up the $1,200 shipping tab, Smith said.
Classes at Creekside Junior High had been canceled for nearly a month while the school was being used as a Red Cross shelter for displaced families, Creekside Counselor Michelle Echols said. Echols said everyone at the school was very grateful for the help.
“Some kids don’t even have pencils,” she said. “They evacuated and when the came back they had nothing.”
Nearly all of Creekside’s 517 students had been affected by the hurricane, some even lost parents or other family members, Echols said.
San Benito County schools have raised thousands of dollars to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the last month and they plan to continue in the months to come.
“We always try to support our community and right now our community is Louisiana,” said Southside School District Principal Eric Johnson said. “Many of our students have lived through serious earthquakes and they’re a very sympathetic bunch.”
Southside students are planning to collect donations for the Red Cross tomorrow during the school’s first dance of the year. Later this month students will be trying to collect their height in pennies.
“There’s about 17 to 18 pennies per inch so we’re hoping for about $8 per student,” Johnson said.
More than dozen schools in the county, public and private, reported that they were raising money to help out their fellow citizens in the Gulf Coast region.
Unable to donate directly to schools in the Gulf Coast, many San Benito County schools have decided to donate money to relief organizations such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
Cerra Vista Elementary School raised more than $2,000 and with a matching donation from Albertsons, the school was able to send $4,820 to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Fund.
Like others, students at Ladd Lane have been very generous in their efforts to collect change for the relief effort, Principal Bob Hammond said.
“The kids are just real concerned about other people,” he said. “We have to watch to make sure they don’t put their lunch money in (the collection jar).”
So far, Ladd Lane has raised about $1,000. Hammond hopes Ladd Lane students can donate the money directly to individual schools in the Gulf Coast.
Rancho San Justo students raised $1,790 which they split between the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. Students at Aromas School raised $2,240 and will vote on which relief organization to donate the money to next week.
After raising more than $730 for the Gulf Coast, students at Sunnyslope Elementary are shifting their fundraising efforts back to San Benito County, Principal Melinda Scott said. The school is planning to hold a canned food drive later this month.
At San Benito High School students have nearly reached their goal of raising $3,000 for the Red Cross, said Juan Robledo, the student activities director at the high school. Students have raised money in collection jars in classrooms, at dances and during pep rallies.
Robledo said students will continue to raise money throughout the year. San Benito High School will also be collecting donations Friday evening during a rock concert in O’Donnell Gym.
In addition to raising $1,271 in a single-day bake sale for Catholic charities, students at Sacred Heart School are planning an aluminum can drive, Principal Kathy O’Donnell said. The can drive money will go directly to the school’s sister Sacred Heart School in Baton Rouge. Students will also be writing letters to their Baton Rouge counterparts.
“This can help teach them to see a larger world and actually get involved in it,” O’Donnell said.
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or
br******@fr***********.com
