Thanks for the Katrina help! I think…
January 16, 2007 by Laura | Trackback URI
Love thy neighbor as thyself
VALPARAISO: MLK Day prompts elementary school students to serve others
VALPARAISO | Traci Coil’s students quietly walked into the gym Monday morning and waited to place their tubes of toothpaste in gallon-size freezer bags.
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, students at Hayes-Leonard Elementary School participated in a community service project. Each class was assigned to bring in a personal hygiene item, which will be used to create health kits. The kits will be sent to victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi.
Among the care items students were asked to bring were hand towels, toothpaste, bandages, soap, toothbrushes, metal nail files, wash cloths and combs.
Supervising the King Day of Service project, kindergarten teacher Laura VanHouten watched over the kids as they placed their items in bags and reflected on the project’s meaning.
“This project shows the children that there are people less fortunate and that we still need to remember the Katrina victims,” VanHouten said. “And this project helps the children celebrate the spirit of Martin Luther King, as well.”
That’s really sweet, however, I suspect these people have been watching too much MSM stock footage of people up to their neck in flooding, or standing amidst piles of debris. Things have changed a great deal around here in the last year. Well, there’s still some debris available, but the FEMA trailer is parked next to it in most cases, and grocery stores have been open since two weeks after the storm. We still do have a small population of homeless people, but Covenant House and other NGOs have very ably been providing assistance for them; in fact far better than pre-Katrina. And by all accounts, Mississippi is doing better than we are.
Still, I appreciate the thought, and it’s great that these kids are being brought up to remember that there are those less fortunate than themselves. I just think there are people who probably need this particular type of help more than New Orleans’ folks do.
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