veteransparkNL
VPE students collected donations for relief efforts in the Philippines. PHOTO PROVIDE BY VPE
Second graders at Veterans Park Elementary have collected over $200 for Red Cross relief efforts in the Philippines, where their new pen pals' school was damaged by Typhoon Haiyan earlier in November.
Each year VPE teams up with the International Book Project to partner with a school in another country. IBP staffers talk about various cultural aspects and prepare a sampling of native food for the students. The children then write letters introducing themselves, and teachers at the partner school pair them with pen pals.
Before the Thanksgiving break, the students sent the donation along with their first letters and a cultural-exchange package containing such items as UK decals, VPE bookmarks and pictures of horses.
"The kids were devastated to hear (about the damage)," said Leslie Nuckols, the gifted/talented resource teacher at VPE. "We got a letter saying the school had been heavily damaged by the weather and winds. The teacher said everybody in the community was safe, though there had been a lot of destruction to the buildings."
Nuckols took the opportunity to explain to her two classes about the work of the Red Cross, and the children decided to take up money for the cause.
“We googled ‘schools and Philippines’ even before this happened and talked about how much we have compared to what they have,” Nuckols said.