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Kids rally to storm victims' aid
By LOGAN MABE
Published August 23, 2004
After Hurricane Charley blew through southwest Florida, destroying the homes and lives of hundreds of thousands of people, help was on the way.
Gov. Jeb Bush came and pledged support, as did his big brother, President George Bush. The American Red Cross and many other organizations pitched in with much needed supplies.
And then came the kids. Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren throughout the Tampa Bay area mobilized in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley to help their schoolmates and families to the south.
"We're all sympathetic toward the victims," said Lauren Neely, a senior at Countryside High School in Pinellas County. "Lives were lost, homes were destroyed, and all of these things were taken away by the storm. So everyone is trying to take some action to help out."
Neely, president of the Interact service club at Countryside, is heading up an effort to raise money and collect goods for hurricane survivors.
"Can you imagine if it had come up through our area, if it had happened to us?" Neely said. "It's like an obligation that we should help them. It's our duty."
That sense of commitment is shared by hundreds of thousands of students throughout the Tampa Bay area, which for days was projected to be the target of Charley's fury.
At Thonotosassa Elementary School, for example, students are donating spare change to relief efforts. "We're going to donate all the funds to the Red Cross in Punta Gorda and Arcadia, and Progress Energy is matching our funds," said assistant principal Jana Hennis.
At St. Petersburg Catholic High, a fund has been created to help raise money for Hurricane Charley's victims. The school is planning a meeting for next week to determine what else can be done to help those who lost their homes in the storm.
In Town 'N Country, Alonso High School students are mobilizing to raise money for their counterparts to the south.
"Our sophomore class vice president came to us on Monday because her aunt teaches at Charlotte High School," said Alonso's student intervention specialist Deborah Isaac. "She said that school was pretty much destroyed, so we decided to adopt it. We're asking our kids to give up one soda per day and if they did that, it would generate about $2,500."
Burns Middle School in Brandon is adopting a school in Port Charlotte and will provide money and school supplies once classes resume. In just two days, the students raised more than $600.
"I'm amazed because the money we raised so far isn't from the parents, it was the kids on their own who are bringing in the money," said Beth Alexander, the student intervention specialist at Burns. "It's amazing the outpouring these kids have given."
At McKitrick Elementary in Lutz, principal Lisa Yost said the students are concentrating on providing some nuts-and-bolts supplies to help the Charley victims get their houses in order.
"We're doing flood buckets," Yost said. "Basically (we're collecting) materials that can be used to clean up the great mess they're in."
For Yost's students at McKitrick, as well as other schools throughout Tampa Bay, giving seems almost second nature.
"They're excited to help," Yost said. "We do things like this throughout the year so that they realize that no matter how old you are or how young you are, you can help other people."
- Times X-Team members Austin Arias and Andrew DeLong and Xpress correspondent Molly Hays contributed to this report.
