Students show global generosity

Published 12:45 pm Thursday, December 11, 2008

By Teresa Herriman

The Courier-Herald

Seventy-five children in Las Esquinas, Nicaragua, will be going to school because of the generosity of the students and teachers at Dieringer Heights Elementary School.

A donation drive, spearheaded by school counselor Jody Anderson, yielded 19 suitcases filled with clothing and school supplies that will be headed to Nicaragua in February.

Anderson said the project began with the idea of helping the Lake Tapps area students expand their world of care and concern for others. Because many of the children who attend Dieringer Elementary have had experience traveling outside the United States, Anderson said she had hoped to find a service project that took on more of a global concern. About that time, Lake Tapps Middle School teacher Lorrie Nelly sent an e-mail asking for support of her own service project. Nelly, a former dental assistant, is traveling to Nicaragua to help provide dental care for poor families through an organization called Humble Hearts. She was asking for donations of toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Anderson saw her opportunity.

She learned that the children in the poor communities of Nicaragua where Nelly was headed are not allowed to attend school unless they have a school uniform and supplies. If the Dieringer students could collect clothing and supplies, could Nelly take the donations with her? The Humble Hearts group agreed.

Next Anderson needed a school. She believed her students could more easily identify with the project if they had a specific school to assist.

Humble Hearts helped there, too. The Dr. Pedro Joaquin Chamorro C. grade school, a kindergarten through sixth grade school in Las Esquinas, fit the bill, they said. The school, named in honor of former president Violetta Chamorro's husband, Pedro, who was assassinated during the revolution, is located in a town with more than 50 percent unemployment. Many of the children there are simply too poor to afford the basic requirement of clothes and supplies needed to attend school.

"Part of our process here was to get more uniforms to get more students in the door," Anderson explained.

Soon students at Dieringer were bringing pairs of navy blue pants and skirts, white shirts and blouses and black shoes to be donated. School supplies began arriving as well. The teachers donated hard-sided luggage.

Even the suitcases will be used, Anderson said. Cut in half, they will serve as cupboards or shelving for families in Las Esquinas.

"Nothing comes back," Anderson said.

She made presentations to the kids, showing them photographs so they could understand what it was like for the children in Nicaragua. The students also wrote letters in hopes of starting a pen-pal program.

This is Nelly's second trip with Humble Hearts. A total of 25 people, including 16 from the area, will be going to Nicaragua in February, she said. The program was founded last year by Teri Vogliardo.

As the students gleefully stuffed the suitcases into her car, Nelly reflected on the children's generosity.

"This really feels like Christmas today," she said.

Teresa Herriman can be reached at therriman@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald.