Five schools in the Military Road area of Slidell are banding together to help a Cameron Parish school devastated by Hurricane Ike.

Spearheaded by Sharon Hewitt, Northshore High School PTA president, the project is collecting khakis and money to provide school uniforms for Hackberry High School, located in the westernmost corner of the state. Just three hours from Galveston, where Hurricane Ike came ashore Sept. 13, the school lies in a district still rebuilding from Hurricane Rita in 2005.

Even though the school received 2 feet of water, it was still the most operable facility in the area. It reopened Oct. 13 to 300 students from neighboring elementary, middle and junior high schools, in addition to its regular student body, and is now hosting all grade levels.

Northshore High School cheerleaders Lauren Dressel, left, and Nikki Tomboli helped collect money at a football game Friday. Over $1,400 was collected over the course of the weekend, and the money will go toward school uniforms and canvas chair backs for Hackberry High School. (Photo by James Elorriaga)

NHS Principal Dr. Michael Peterson found out an Alabama school is helping Hackberry restock its school supplies, but because the student body includes grades kindergarten through 12, they are in desperate need of school uniforms. Hewitt appealed to the PTA and PTSA presidents at Honey Island Elementary, Cypress Cove Elementary, Little Oak Middle School and Boyet Junior High School.

“We’re collecting khaki shorts, pants and skirts in all sizes, either new or gently-used,” said Hewitt. “We’re also collecting money to purchase shirts in the different school colors, either red or Kelly green.”

Even though the project started “literally 24 hours ago,” Hewitt said Friday, the response has been tremendous. When she returned home from running errands, her doorstep was covered with small containers, which NHS cheerleaders used to collect money during its football game against St. Paul’s that evening.

The project has already turned out to have an unexpected bonus. When Hewitt called Hackberry Principal Austin LaBove to advise him the effort was moving forward, he had an additional request. LaBove asked for canvas chair backs.

“It’s kind of like a sleeve that hangs on the back of the chair, with lots of pockets,” said Hewitt. “They have all these little kids using high school desks, and there’s no drawer for them to store their crayons and things.”

After some Internet research, Hewitt found ARC of Beauregard Parish, which makes the chair backs by hand and sells them for $6 each as part of its employment program to help nurture independence in its clients. She quickly placed an order for 120 and will use some of the funds raised to pay for them.

Money was also collected during the Camellia Marching Festival the following day, and the weekend’s efforts put them $1,400 closer to their goal of $6,000. By Hewitt’s estimate, that will help them purchase a minimum of two shirts for each student, plus the canvas chair backs from ARC.

Hewitt hopes area businesses will step forward to assist with laundering the clothing items, and to donate boxes or assist with shipping. Based on the response so far, she realizes the group may quickly exceed the amount of clothing and money needed.

“That would be a good problem to have, to end up with more than we need,” said Hewitt. “If that happens, I know there are still schools that need help.”

The deadline for collection is Friday, and the following schools are accepting donations for the Cameron Parish project:

• Boyet Junior High School, 59295 Rebel Drive, 643-3775

• Cypress Cove Elementary, 540 S. Military Road, 641-3033

• Honey Island Elementary, 500 S. Military Road, 641-3557

• Little Oak Middle School, 59241 Rebel Drive, 641-6510

• Northshore High School, 100 Panther Drive, 649-6400.