February 25, 2005

ESD NEWS BRIEFS

A Wave of Caring

ESD students, teachers contribute $39,100 for tsunami relief

By Bea Baechle
Editor

Perhaps the only positive aspect of a natural disaster is the opportunity it provides for people to open their hearts and reach across the globe to help one another.

Sherry Gilmore, parent of a student at Holly Oak Elementary School, directs students in stuffing nine boxes of school supplies and toys sent to Thailand.

Students, parents and teachers in the Evergreen School District jumped at that chance, raising $39,100—and counting—to assist the people whose lives were devastated by the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia and India on Dec. 26, 2004.

The generosity of the total amount raised—including more than $20,000 by Silver Oak—is accentuated by the incredible individual stories that surfaced locally. Like the one about an Evergreen Ele-mentary student who donated his $20 birthday money to the cause. Or how several other Evergreen Elemen-tary students emptied their piggy banks into the collection jars at school.

A random act of kindness
And then there’s Victoria Jaquez Tori, a sixth grader in Janie Swenor’s class at James F. Smith Elementary School, who won several rewards for selling $363 worth of products from the annual Christmas fund raising catalog. One of her rewards was to stand in a wind machine (of sorts) for 10 seconds and grab as much money as she could. 

The trick of the money machine is that there’s only one $100 bill and 100 $1 bills. Tori grabbed the $100 bill, without realizing it at the time, and three more $1 bills. Since she was the first of several student winners to enter the money machine, she remembers feeling bad that the others wouldn’t be able to win the $100 bill.

Two Holly Oak Elementary School students display items collected at school that will be sent to Thailand.

“Oh my gosh, I finally won something,” thought Tori at first. “I knew instantly that I wanted to donate the money for the tsunami relief. I have everything I need, why would I keep the money? I don’t need it. I’m very fortunate.”

“I was very proud of her civic spirit and caring for others less fortunate than herself,” said Cindi Schisler, Tori’s grandmother. “I asked her what her friends had to say about her gesture. I was thinking they would pat her on the back and say. ‘Way to go, Tori!’ Instead, many asked her why she gave it all away and didn’t save some for herself. Still others asked her if she could give them $20 or $50 of it.” 

Schisler said that she and Tori often talk about others less fortunate than themselves and that they also donate time, money and clothes for this purpose. “What I came to discover is that she is not typical. She has a better understanding of the world around her and realizes that everything is not all about her and her wants.”

Following Tori’s turn in the money machine, a fellow classmate, Jonathon Sahoo, donated $9 of the $10 he won, too.

Tori Jaquez, a sixth grader at James F. Smith Elementary School, donated the $100 prize she won to the tsunami relief effort.

Holly Oak donates more than money
Holly Oak Elementary School ran a “Daily Clank” fundraiser to motivate the students and their families to raise $1,528. Two grade levels per day poured their collected coins into a container, and students throughout the school heard this ka-ching during the daily announcements as a reminder to bring in their spare change.

In addition, the students collected enough school supplies, stuffed animals and puzzles to send nine boxes of goods to several schools in Thailand near Phuket. Students ages 4 to 12 years old will benefit.

This extra effort was made possible by parents, Dale Dauenhauer, who combined a business trip to Thailand to hand-deliver the supplies to the children, and Jeff Caulk, who convinced his employer, DHL, to pay the cost of shipping the boxes to Thailand.

Evergreen School District’s Tsunami Relief Efforts