From left, OK Principal Stacey Hall, Larry and Sherry Cunningham, Huber Maintenance Supply present a check for $1,400 to Marci Hawks from the American Red Cross.

Schools chip in to help the people of Haiti
Students and staff across the district donated their spare change and their spare time to help support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Many schools held penny drives to be donated to the Red Cross. At OK Elementary, the school held a "Coins from Kansas" drive during the last week of January and collected $746. OK's partner, Huber Maintenance Supply, also contributed to the school's amount. OK and Huber Maintenance presented a $1,400 check to the Red Cross.

Irving Elementary's Caring Coins drive asked students to donate their change. Students could also donate $1 to not wear their school uniform for a day. Irving collected $1,923.56 for the Red Cross. Tamera Wedel's second-grade class collected the most money, $157, and won a pizza party.

Riverside Leadership Magnet had a "Hundred for Haiti" collection during the last week of January. The goal was to have each class raise one hundred dollars. The students raised $2,216.80 for the American Red Cross in one week.

Language Arts teacher Brian Horn and some Mead Middle School students who participated in "I Heart Haiti" day.

Throughout February, Harry Street Elementary is collecting Box Tops for Education. The proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross at the end of the month.

On February 1, Mead Middle School held an "I Heart Haiti" day. The school sold I "heart" Haiti buttons for students and staff to wear. Students who made donations were able to dress out of uniform during the day. The school raised $1,146, exceeding the school's $1,000 goal.

"We hope this activity will inspire our students to act the next time something like this happens in the world where people need our help," said Brian Horn, Language Arts teacher and one of the event's organizers.

Mead's student council will research different organizations to decide where to donate the money.

Many Mead teachers had lessons that centered on Haiti, including comparing different poems written about Haiti in Language Arts classes, studying earthquakes in science and learning about the Haitian culture in social studies.

Allison Traditional Magnet students put together health kits to help the people of Haiti.

Students and staff also donated their time to assist in relief efforts. Staff at Enterprise Elementary helped package food for Numana at the Kansas Coliseum. The staff wore their school shirts to show their school spirit and the school's desire to help. Twenty-seven students at Jackson Elementary helped with Numana's one million meals goal by packaging food at Wichita State University's Metroplex. The students and teachers packaged 5,216 meals in an hour.

At Allison Traditional Magnet, students assembled health kits to be delivered to people in Haiti. Students and staff donated items including washcloths, combs, soap, toothbrushes and bandages to be placed in the kits. Science teacher Lorrie Donham worked with students volunteers to put the kits together during their lunch recess. The school donated 60 kits and $62.50 to the United Methodist Commission on Relief (UMCOR).

"I feel it's important to help others," said Hailey Person, eighth-grade student at Allison. "If I was in a situation like that, I'd want others to help me."




February 9, 2010