November 5, 2004

Evergreen Elementary School sends $900 to soften the blow of Hurricane Ivan

By Bea Baechle
Editor

When Dawn Ernst’s fifth grade class began studying a unit on natural disasters, they didn’t expect Mother Nature to provide the eruption of Mount St. Helens or the ravaging winds of Hurricane Ivan.

But when they heard about the roof blowing off of a first grade classroom in Robertsdale, Ala., near Mobile, they decided they just had to do something. So they formed a Hurricane Committee that collected pennies from every classroom.

Dawn Ernst’s fifth grade class enjoyed helping out a first grade classroom in Alabama whose roof blew off when Hurricane Ivan hit.

“This is how it all started. When we were reading a story about hurricanes, Hurricane Ivan happened and we found out about the terrible news,” said fifth-grader Mikita Zakladnyi, explaining that another teacher at Evergreen Elementary School had a friend who lived in Alabama who told her about all the damage. “When it was over, everything was wrecked. So we thought that we should help, and we thought that we should donate money.”

Fifth-grader Kalie Iadsmikham, co-president of the Hurricane Committee, explained that the classroom made posters for every room, brought a jar to every room to collect pennies in, and ultimately helped count all the money. They gathered about $847, and the teachers chipped in to bring the total to an even $900.

“Hurricane Ivan really destroyed lots of schools and homes, and it felt really good that we were going to help a class outside of Mobile, Ala.,” said fifth-grader Elisha Buaron.

Alabama teacher Laura Floyd, the recipient of Evergreen Elementary’s generosity, wrote in an e-mail, “I can not say ‘THANK YOU’ enough. The money will go toward books, learning games, supplies and new computer CDs that were damaged and wet, etc. I am speechless. Your school is WONDERFUL!”

Ernst made a point of encouraging the Alabama teacher to “have some fun” with a little bit of the money, too.

Special thanks to CitiBank on Tully Road, which donated its time double checking the amount and covering the cost of shipping the coin.