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Happy Holidays 2006

There's a lesson to be learned through giving

By MICHELE MILLER
Published December 20, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Lance Aram Rothstein] Pre-K students Tyler Martin, 4, from left, Kyle Bevan, 4 and Terri Stoffels, 5, check out the medals they were awarded after the Ladybug Walk (three laps around the bus loop) at Fox Hollow Elementary School.

At first it was about extra credit. Ten cans of food for a few extra points sounded pretty good to the 16-year-old who sometimes struggles with math.

Then one day before the Thanksgiving holiday, she had a chance encounter with a mom who was in the school media center to pick up a basket of nonperishables that would help feed her family.

It was a brief and somewhat distant meeting. Even so, it prompted one of those "A-ha" moments - when two and two are put together and a kind of clarity kicks in. The cause - the school food drive - suddenly had a face. While my daughter is no Grinch, I think I saw her heart grow two sizes that day. Suffice it to say, she will never look at a can of tuna the same way.

It is an enviable position to witness such sudden growth in one's own. A little awe-inspiring, even.

Even more so is the growth I see in others on a daily basis. Their names and good deeds spill out of the fax machine and onto my desk and fill my e-mail in-box, assuring me that a new crop of caring kids is being molded for the future.

Perhaps you've seen it, too - all those names that are sprinkled in stories and in the "Newsmakers" section on this page.

Names such as Courtney Rubio, an eighth-grader at Academy at the Farm and a Girl Scout on a mission who has been busy collecting personal hygiene items for the St. Vincent de Paul Society for families in need.

Last week's e-mail told of Maria Smith's third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at Fox Hollow Elementary who were painting glass ornaments to be sent to Mercy Housing in Gulfport, Miss., to be distributed to Katrina victims. A few weeks before that, the pre-K kids in Anna Buchanan's class at the same school dressed up for a lady-bug walk to raise $486.16 to fund parent workshops and purchase classroom supplies.

Denham Oaks Elementary Student Council recently sponsored a "Warm for Winter" blanket and clothing drive for students at other schools. And over at Trinity Elementary, kids and teachers in the Mountaineers Pod were carrying on the tradition started five years ago by former teacher Christina Bouffard. They've been donating animal toys, blankets, treats and grooming supplies to be given to those adopting pets from Pasco County Animal Services.

These are the kind of lessons administered every day in schools throughout our county - lessons that cannot be measured by a standardized test.

Nonetheless, they are truly felt by folks like Kim Stratman, the volunteer coordinator at Richey Elementary School in New Port Richey.

Last week she was tearfully sorting through the Barbie dolls, CD players, puzzles and games that had been donated for 135 of her students by the students from Longleaf Elementary School.

"I was worried that we weren't going to have enough for all the kids," she said. "When I went into the room and saw all the toys, I had goose bumps."

No doubt that kind of giving is a real boon to a school where well over 75 percent of the kids receive free and reduced-price lunches.

"Over 20 of our families are living in hotels," said Stratman. "You sort of fill their cup with the basic things so the learning takes place."

And it turns out, the fillers of the cups benefit as well.

"Our school theme is to be respectful, responsible, caring and fair and this encourages the caring component," said Longleaf guidance counselor Beverly McKinney, whose school donated the toys to students at Richey Elementary and also books to those attending Moon Lake Elementary.

"Most of our kids haven't realized a Christmas where there were no gifts or few gifts. I think it was meaningful for them to give to another school because they could visualize who the books and toys were going to," said McKinney. "It was really a beautiful thing to see all the joy on their faces as they brought the toys up."

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 07:06:12]