With the recent devastation created by Hurricane Katrina, many area individuals and organizations have come together to collect items and raise money for the people affected by this disaster.
Myers Elementary School in Bellwood is no exception. Although, relief efforts at the school started in an unexpected place, Mrs. Susan Bouslough’s fourth grade class.
Mrs. Bouslough said she encouraged students to create goals this school year, they didn’t have to be school related, but she wanted the students to know what it felt like to set a goal and work towards it.
After the recent hurricane that devastated parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, one student in Mrs. Bouslough’s class, Ariana, decided to set a goal for herself. She wanted to help the people who’s lives were turned upside down by Katrina.
Mrs. Bouslough took Ariana’s idea and spoke with the other fourth grade teachers who agreed to help with the efforts.
Each of the other fourth grade teachers chose a student to represent their classroom. The four students, Ariana Grabowski, Alec Bowers, Mercedes Walker and Brandee Thompson, then began meeting together and brainstorming ideas to raise money. The students refer to themselves as Kids Care About Katrina’s Chaos.
With Mrs. Bouslough as an advisor, the group decided to begin collecting coins. They set a goal, hoping to raise $500.
The kids began spreading the word about their fund raising efforts. They created a newsletter to send home to parents, explaining their idea. They also created commercials to air on the school’s morning news.
Mrs. Bouslough was proud of the group, saying, “They’ve given up recess for at least a week. They have been in here during recess making the commercials, writing the newsletter and counting and wrapping coins.”
She said the kids have done most of the work.
“They wrote the scripts for the commercials, decided what they wanted to say and who would say it.”
The coin collection started off with “Penny Day” when students were asked to bring in pennies.
The group was overwhelmed with the response from the school. Cans were overflowing with pennies. In fact, the response was so good, Mrs. Bouslough said they had to ask for help when it came to counting the money.
Cate Fraser, Community Financial Center Manager II, of the Bellwood office of First Commonwealth Bank, offered the bank’s services to help count the money.
“We wanted to lend a hand and support the kids with the idea they had,” said Fraser.
She said it was neat to see all the different containers the kids had collected the money in and was amazed by how much they had collected.
With the success of Penny Day, the group then initiated Nickel Day, Dime Day, Quarter Day and Dollar Day.
The students were able to count and roll some of the money and already had a total of $840. The students were very exciting, having already surpassed their goal of $500.
Once bank employees have finished counting the money, a check will be given to the Red Cross.
When asked why they wanted to do this, the group all agreed, they just wanted to help raise money for the people who needed it.
“Some people died, some are still homeless and babies were separated from their parents,” said Mercedes, explaining why she felt raising the money was important.
Ariana urged people to continue contributing saying, “Just remember, these people are homeless, they need all the help they can get.”
According to Mrs. Bouslough, people have continued to contribute. She said students are still bringing money in.
The students were also quick to point out the efforts of others within the school. They said music teacher, Jennifer Wright, has also been collecting items such as toothpaste, new clothes and baby items. She takes the items to her church where Boys Scout Troop No. 92 collects them.
One feeling that was universal among the adults who had the pleasure of working with this group of youngster was that of pride. Everyone said they were happy to have had the opportunity to work with such caring and responsible kids and were proud of the time and hard work they have put into their effort.
Kids Care about Katrina’s Chaos is made up of a represent from each of the fourth grade classes at Myers Elementary School. Ariana represents Mrs. Bouslough’s class, Alec is a member of Janice Cook’s class, Brandee represents Ruda Burns’ fourth grade and Mercedes is a student in Karen Gibbons’ class.
