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Sending school supplies to Katrina victims

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By Shelley Griffith/ Bates PTO
Thursday, February 23, 2006

Finding enough paper, pencils and school supplies of any kind is a struggle every day for many Louisiana public schools, which are over-crowded with children displaced by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina last year.

But some classrooms in the rural school district of St. John the Baptist Parish have had their learning days brightened and made a little bit easier through the efforts of Bates and Schofield elementary schools in Wellesley.

Working at a grassroots level, students and their families boxed up books, art supplies, folders, pens and pencils, and even cleaning supplies and sent them directly to the classrooms most in need.

Bates PTO co-president and coordinator of the Katrina relief project, Becky Georgenes, who had firsthand experience teaching in New Orleans through Teach For America during the 1990s, realized immediately how much help the schools would need after the hurricane hit.

She contacted Teach For America, a national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools - and many of whom were to start the 2005-06 school year in and around New Orleans.

"I knew all the Teach For America teachers had been evacuated from New Orleans and there was a big effort to replace them in other rural schools that were accommodating children displaced by the hurricane," Georgenes said. "In some cases, the teachers who had also lost their homes actually lived in their new classrooms.

"The first year of teaching in any school is challenging," she said. "These young teachers are truly serving our country by teaching during a national disaster in under-resourced schools.

Georgenes said that her conversations with Teach for America teachers in the days after the hurricane were hurried and e-mail was not reliable. But she was informed that, each day, more and more children were turning up at school.

The Bates community decided to help New Orleans through its difficult time. A parent from each grade volunteered as a coordinator, helping to get the word out to all Bates families about the St. John the Baptist Parish teachers' needs.

Some teachers' requests were very specific - 15 copies of "To Kill A Mockingbird - while others asked for more general art supplies or books to suit a range of reading levels. "One special ed. class had a computer system in place for teaching but they needed novels to go with the system," Georgenes said. "In the kindergarten and first-grade classes they needed little kid art supplies. There are no well-stocked supply closets in these schools - even pencils are precious things."

Cardboard boxes set up in the foyer of Bates school were soon filled to the brims "Each grade at Bates sent down two or three boxes," Georgenes said. "Individual parents got together with their kids, packed it all up and sent it off. The fifth-grade student council at Bates worked to publicize the effort among the grades, and they were the ones to request shipping money from the PTO."

There has been a grateful response from the students and teachers in Louisiana. The thank-you letters and photos sent to Bates students have made their gifts very personal and has created a genuine connection with the teachers and children of Louisiana.

First-grade Teach For America teacher Alice Hopkins wrote "I am overwhelmed by your generosity - and I love that a class all the way in Massachusetts cares enough about what's happened here to reach out to other children in such a meaningful way."

A Bunche Middle School student, Monica Chatman, wrote "I am very thankful for what you have done for us. You just do not know what I have been through. Thanks to Katrina my house has been totally destroyed. I have also learned a valuable lesson after this experience. I have learned life is too short and you should cherish it while you can. So many babies, adults and kids have died because of the water rising and them drowning. I am happy that you all have taken your time out to send us something like books or even a simple piece of paper would put a little smile on my face."

Georgenes said the Bates school would be willing to organize another supply drive, and is waiting to hear what the teachers need next. "Giving to these children and teachers is giving directly to real people who need it," she said. "These are just regular kids who have been through a lot."

Bates Principal Amber Bock has watched her students also gain from the experience. "The part of this I have most enjoyed is seeing our children work to sustain attention to a cause," she said.

"In so many cases you see a problem and are given a short window of attention to fix it, so it has been good to see our children understand the extended impact of this disaster and to continue to help."

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