Glencoe Elementary raising money for Mississippi school

 

    

 

Published in the Gadsden Times, October 4, 2005    

By Andy Powell

Times Staff Writer

 

GLENCOE - While Purvis, Miss., is just a small dot on a map to most people, for pupils and teachers at Glencoe Elementary School, it is a chance to help pupils and teachers at an another elementary school with the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

 

The link between the two schools is Glencoe fourth-grade teacher Dee Dee Lowman, who has been at Glencoe since 1996 and attended and graduated school in Purvis.

 

After hearing of the problems the school had from Katrina - 12 classrooms had to be gutted and all equipment, including VCRs, televisions, computers and all school supplies, was lost - Lowman said she talked with her principal, Linda Griffin, about asking pupils and parents at Glencoe if they wanted to raise money to help the Mississippi school.

 

She said the pupils have responded enthusiastically, giving their change to help the drive. She said one pupil gave some of the money her parents had given her for making the honor roll.

 

The school already had been working with Johnson's Giant Foods in raising money to send supplies to the Gulf Coast.

 

Griffin said the school decided to "adopt" Purvis, which is near Hattiesburg and about 60 miles from Biloxi after Lowman talked to her about the school and its needs.

 

Pupils began raising money Sept. 23 and by Friday the school had raised about $270.

 

Lowman said her parents still live in Purvis, which has a population of 2,140, according to the 2000 census, and said after hearing from them of the devastation in the area she talked to the Purvis Elementary School principal about the damage at the school.

 

She said 12 classrooms at Purvis Elementary had to be gutted.

 

"We decided to help them by raising money and so little kids have been bringing their quarters and nickels and pennies and even $20 bills have been brought in," Lowman said. She said teachers have offered to give extra supplies they would like to donate.

 

She said she talked to her pupils one afternoon and that the next morning her class has raised $55. "I thought that was pretty awesome," she said.

"I'm just so excited I can't wait to see what we're able to help these kids get," Lowman said.

 

Purvis Elementary School Principal Rita Downs said the school started back Sept. 26 in makeshift quarters with some classes being combined and other classes meeting in the school library. She said teachers and volunteers are busy trying to clean the rooms that were damaged so they can be used again.

 

Downs said the school has had offers of help from schools across the country, but the offer of help coming from a former Purvis student was special.

"We are so grateful for anything that they have done," Downs said. "We hope that they don't ever have to go through this but if they did we would certainly be there to help them," Downs said.

 

She said the money will be put to good use for buying equipment that has to be replaced as well as furnishing school supplies for families in the area.

Lowman said she didn't know how much the school might raise but she has set a personal goal of each of the 24 classes at Glencoe raising $100 each. The school has about 400 pupils.

 

"If we could get more, that would be great," she said.

 

She said the pupils are excited about the project because they realize they can directly help other pupils affected by Hurricane Katrina.

 

Lowman said school officials in Purvis recommended the Glencoe school buy gift cards from Wal-Mart or Sam's and send them to the school because that will be less expensive than buying from school catalogs and those businesses will not take purchase orders from schools.

 

Lowman said the Purvis school will send receipts and pictures showing how the money was spent.

 

"That way our boys and girls can see what they helped to buy," Lowman said. She said she hopes to send the gift cards in the next couple of weeks but the drive might continue after that.

 

Lowman said some pupils had wanted to bring books and paper to give to the school but she told them the gift cards were what the school recommended because it could then buy the items it needed.

 

She said all the teachers have a container in their classrooms where students can contribute change.

 

She said she plans to go home during the fall break and will take some supplies teachers wanted to donate.

 

Lowman said if people other than teachers or pupils want to give, they can bring their donations by the school office.