Glynn H. Brock Elementary School students received gifts and donations from the local Target and Office Depot Tuesday morning during an assembly at St. Tammany Junior High School in Slidell.
Each of the 203 students from Brock Elementary received a carabiner, a metal ring that clips on to book bags, a $15 gift certificate from Toys R Us, along with a book bag from Office Depot.
 Brock Elementary student Kira Ray showed everyone in the audience how to respond after gifts were handed out. (Staff Photo by Emily Garvin) |
Brock Elementary also received a $20,000 donation in school supplies, as well as clothing, sports equipment and rugs for the empty floors in the classrooms, from Target department stores.
The supplies will help the school's faculty and students to get back on their feet after losing almost everything in Hurricane Katrina.
The school's comeback started almost immediately after Katrina struck when Anne Ginther, president of RandomKid, a nonprofit organization that encourages students to help students, launched an e-mail campaign across America to get students to help hurricane-affected areas of the coast.
Ginther joined forces with four students from Des Moines, Iowa - Talia Leman, Sarah Larson, Emma Skahitt and Lanna Whitlock - who were already working on projects to help out students from the hurricane-affected areas.
They were motivated to get involved in a relief effort in Slidell after reading a "My Christmas Wish" letter by Brock student Tonisha Brookter, who said she wished she could see her family smile and that all the FEMA trailers would be gone, replaced by houses again.
Her wish was granted when Brookter, her brother, Tiron Moore, and her mother, Paulette Lindsey, received a house through Habitat for Humanity's Operation Home Delivery.
Her letter also touched the hearts of Ginther and the four girls, who contacted Brookter and her brother to see what they could do.
The end result was an overwhelming show of love toward Brookter and Brock Elementary.
Tuesday morning, Mayor Ben Morris was at the school to announce officially that Dec. 19, 2006, would forever be known as Tiron Moore and Tonisha Brookter Day. Also in attendance were Shiela Gunderson and Mike Condon of Target and Fred Mattei of Office Depot, who presented checks and gifts to the school and the students.
Principal Rose Smith was speechless after all the gifts were presented.
"I just don't know the words to say thank you. "Everyone has done so much for us and the school," Smith said.
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