[StBernard] Students donate books to hurricane-damaged school

[Westley Annis]

Students donate books to hurricane-damaged school 
By Anna Krejci, Dells Events 

Students and staff at Neenah Creek Elementary School in Briggsville and
staff at the Kilbourn Public Library in Wisconsin Dells donated books and
school supplies to the St. Bernard Parish School District near New Orleans,
an area still in recovery after Hurricane Katrina hit 18 months ago.

At the beginning of April, Neenah Creek Elementary School teacher Susan
Johnson loaded her personal vehicle with 18 boxes of books and school
supplies, including four boxes of materials for teachers, and delivered the
supplies to the Louisiana school district's central office herself.

Johnson first saw the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina in October when
she traveled to New Orleans on a mission trip with members of her church.
More than a year after the hurricane hit, homes were still abandoned. City
workers were still removing debris from the streets. Boats were displaced
and dilapidated.

Johnson felt an urge then to do more and knew her students could help too.

"When I saw the devastation down there, I thought there was something that
our Neenah Creekers can be doing to help those poor kids and staff members
down there," she said.

According to a St. Bernard Parish newsletter this month, 3,800 students are
enrolled in the district now compared to the 8,800 students who were
enrolled before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005.

The district had been operating with just two schools open, Chalmette High
School and Andrew Jackson Elementary. Before the hurricane hit the district
operated with 15 schools. The district is slowly making progress towards
reopening all of its schools. 

On Aug. 15 three more buildings, N.P. Trist Middle School, J.F. Gauthier
Elementary School and C.F. Rowley School for Alternative Programs, will
open.

The many supplies donated by students and staff at Neenah Creek Elementary
School were used in Andrew Jackson Elementary School to bolster the school's
library collection, said St. Bernard Parish School District donation
coordinator Gayle Hunter. Hunter is in charge of receiving and distributing
the many donations that come to the district as well as thanking donors.

Hunter said everything was lost in the storm. Supplies and books were either
overcome with mold or were destroyed by the sun for lack of storage space
after the storm, she said.

"I can honestly say that everything that comes to us, we make use of. If we
cannot use it during the school day for instructional purposes, it is then
donated to our families for use in homes or trailers or wherever they're
residing at this time," she said.

Hunter said the donations' impact is obvious.

"We could not be recovering at the rate that we're doing if it were not for
what people are doing for us all over the United States and outside the
United States," she said.

The school district has also received donations from Canada, Japan and
Kazakhstan, she said.

The district's enrollment has grown steadily since August 2005. When classes
resumed in November 2005 there were only 326 students enrolled, Hunter said.
They attended class in modular classrooms constructed on the parking lot
next to the high school's football stadium, she said. By the end of that
school year there were 2,400 students in grades pre kindergarten through
12th grade.

Now Andrew Jackson Elementary School houses students in pre kindergarten
through sixth grade while students in seventh through 12th grades attend at
Chalmette High School, Hunter said.

Hunter credited the donations as contributing to the district's success.

Jacob Evans, 7, a student at Neenah Creek Elementary School, said he donated
pencils and erasers.

"I wanted the Hurricane Katrina kids to have a lot of school supplies," he
said.

He said he felt "good" about making the donations.

Payton Lindner, 10, also donated supplies such as folders.

"I wanted the kids from Hurricane Katrina to be able to go to school and
have the supplies that they need," she said.

She recalled the storm.

"I thought it was really scary, and I felt really bad for the people that it
hit," Lindner said.

Word of Johnson's efforts to collect and transport supplies to the St.
Bernard Parish School District spread to the Kilbourn Public Library.

Librarian Charlotte Walch Davies said the library donated books donated by
individuals and book companies, as well as books that were duplicates in
their collection.

"There was a variety with nonfiction chapter books for the older kids and
picture books for the younger kids," she said.

Davies said she knows the donations will have a positive impact.

"I think it's hard for us to realize the devastation that happened. You can
see the pictures, but to be able to help people on a personal level like
this is very good for us. I know that the kids will appreciate these
donations to fill in for what they lost in the hurricane floods and the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," she said.

Hunter said in some ways donations from private individuals have supported
the district better than help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"We have not been forgotten, not by the grass roots people," Hunter said.

But she added that response from state and federal governments has been
different.

"That's been so slow and sometimes so unresponsive that you can feel
forgotten," she said.

The donations the district has received has boosted morale, Hunter said.

"Everyone feels as I do that this has just renewed our faith in people," she
said.

People volunteer on their vacations to clean a moldy home, tear homes down
or build new homes and businesses, she said. "It's just been absolutely
inspiring."

Johnson said she feels great after transporting the books and school
supplies to St. Bernard Parish School District over her spring break and
blessed to return home.

"I come back and my life is back to normal, but down there those people are
living day to day and trying to rebuild. It's a slow, slow process for them
down there," Johnson said.