The cost of a variety of school supplies, including erasers, notebook paper, pens, and pencils, as well as packing materials is $535, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
I am a Teach for America corps member teaching seventh grade Social Studies at MS 325 in the South Bronx. Although every student in America ought to sympathize with the victims of Hurricane Katrina, students living in New York City especially have a reason to feel their pain. Three years after the horrors of September 11th, my seventh graders last year were still writing poems and drawing artwork ruminating on what happened that day. Many lost family members who were firefighters or custodians in the building and all were traumatized by the footage on TV, and the plumes smoke and debris that choked their playgrounds for days on end. No one away from the Gulf Coast can truly understand the tragedy of Katrina, but my students probably have a better idea than they would like them to have.
I know my students would feel better about their own experience on 9/11 if they were able to talk to other young people about it and I also think they would like to help youngsters who suffered the fury of Katrina. One way of doing this would be for my students to write letters and send school supply care packages to student victims of the storm. They could also videotape inspirational messages and performances that might bring a smile to the faces of their peers down south.
My students need your help to do this because the sad reality is that their families cannot afford to donate any money. As I mentioned above, my students live in the poorest Congressional district in the country and 99% of them qualify for the free lunch program. Since my school does not even buy chalk for the teachers, it can hardly buy school supplies for far away students. We need your help to purchase school supplies and begin a correspondence between students in the South Bronx and the Gulf Coast.
School supply care-packages for thirty students contain all the materials for a three ring binder (the binder, dividers and loose paper), composition books, pencils, pens, highlighters, pencil boxes and various other types of art supplies. I also asked for butcher paper so that my students can decorate their own wrapping paper for wrapping the individual care packages. Finally, I asked for boxes in which to mail the care-packages. I hope the school supplies will help thirty victims of Hurricane Katrina ease their transition back into “normal” life and I also hope that the letters my students send will take some of the edge off of their suffering. If anyone in America knows what to tell seventh graders reeling from a horrific tragedy, their peers in New York who endured 9/11 would. With your generous donation, you can make a difference in the lives of sixty students in two classrooms at opposite ends of the country.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mr. W. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
