Mt. Airy Elementary Students Help Those Impacted by Hurricane Sandy

In response to Hurricane Sandy, students in Liz Haff’s fourth grade math classes at Mt. Airy Elementary School held a fundraiser for the American Red Cross, especially targeting the Red Cross in New Jersey and New York City.

Students reached out to staff, parents, and families and raised a total of $2,720.60 from October 31 through November 9, 2012.

The students felt that they had been spared by the storm and wanted to do something to address hardship in the community to show compassion and care. They realized that some students in the impacted areas would not be trick or treating for Halloween and that some are staying in shelters, have damage to their homes, or suffered injuries.

Many of the students in the classes have relatives in New Jersey and New York City.  One class member has had family members from New Jersey living with them.

According to teacher Liz Haff, “Not only were the students successful in raising money for the Red Cross, but this was a valuable learning experience for them as well.”

Students broke into different groups and each group had a different assignment. Some students made flyers and distributed them throughout the school, while others made posters and hung them around the school. Students also wrote announcements and read them over the loudspeaker during morning announcements. In their announcements, they talked about what had happened and the importance of donating.

Students made shirts with messages encouraging others to donate to the Red Cross and served as ambassadors by talking to other classes about what happened and the importance of donating. Some students were data collectors and graphed how much money was collected each day. The data was displayed in a bar graph in the main office.  Students also were bookkeepers and counted the money.

Information in this article was taken from a Carroll County Public Schools news release.