Representatives of Carpenter Hill Elementary School student body, (left to right) Gavin Klocke, Brody Collins, Mary-Avery Rovelli, Ryan Price, Fletcher Stauffer and Jordyn Ponewash, show off their big check to help the Bastrop Fire Relief effort. (Photo by Jim Cullen)
by JIM CULLEN
The disaster of Bastrop’s recent devastating fire lit something in local students as well – a desire to do something to help. And help they did, from collecting water for fire fighters to canned food and clothing for victims. Some focused on cash donations. All of it was gathered in record time and all of it made an impact.
Hays CISD Public Information Officer Tim Savoy reports that “nearly every campus answered the call.”Not all of the responses were reported, but a few campuses have ‘fessed up’ about their drives.
There was nothing normal about the effort at Carpenter Hill Elementary, where Principal Jason Certain’s morning announcement suggestion that the Colts “make it rain with change” unleashed an immediate outpouring – a deluge, in fact – that produced over $2,000 in change, counted to the penny at Wells Fargo, in two days. By the end of the week, the Carpenter Hill cash donation to the American Red Cross had grown to $2,591.93 and donations were still coming.
Details from Lehman High School hadn’t been reported at press time, but Lobos’ Student Council Advisor Karin Prado had passed along word that her group’s drive had netted almost $1,300 through the Lobos’ den periods with “more coming in daily.”
Buda Elementary School students mounted a drive that accumulated a truckload of supplies in just a week, Elm Grove Elementary coordinated delivery of clothes, food, and supplies, and Dahlstrom Middle School’s National Junior Honor Society sponsored a drive.
At Hays High School, Leos sponsor Kerri Espinoza and teacher Devi Puckett did dual duty in coordinating donation efforts for pet food and clothing, respectively. Espinoza’s Leos gathered more than 250 pounds of pet food that was headed for Austin’s Pets Alive and the Austin Humane Society, both of which were caring for lost and injured animals from the fire zone. By the time they’d finished, Puckett’s students had collected more than 60 large bags and boxes of clothing, personal care and first aid items, cleaning supplies, and water and snacks for firefighters.
Not intended as a comprehensive accounting of every effort in the district, suffice it to say the spirit of charity swept over the HCISD community and other campus efforts will be reported here as they come in.
