By Andrew DuPont
Clarkston News Staff Writer
As donations and support for victims of Hurricane Katrina continue to pour into groups like the Red Cross, the faculty and students of Independence Elementary are going even further.
According to fifth grade teacher Mary Schulte, Independence is ‘adopting? the seven Catholic schools in the Diocese of Shreveport, Louisiana. Superintendent for the Diocese Sr. Carol Shively said the schools recieved an influx of approximately 560 students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Shulte said she’s been in contact with friends in the Shreveport area who are currently working with the Red Cross to help out. Shulte said her friends asked for more direct help, and after some brainstorming it was decided that that Independence Elementary would ‘adopt? the schools.
‘We decided to take it on as a project for the year,? said Schulte. ‘Our staff decided that we were going to donate our ‘Casual for a Cause? money, which we always try to donate to some worthy cause every year.
‘We don’t want this to be a band-aid,? said Schulte continued. ‘We want to do as much as we can to continue to support them educating these kids, cause they’re there on the front lines. Their lives are not normal anymore.?
In addition to current donations, the school plans to donate books from an upcoming book drive to the students in Shreveport. Schulte said there’s no specific goal set, and that they just want to collect as much as they can.
‘These children are fifth generation poverty. We are hoping that by all of us working together we can help break the cycle of poverty by supporting their education and the people who are on the front lines caring for them,? said Schulte.
The school will be accepting donations of money and school supplies in the school lobby until September 30. Requested supplies include pencils (both regular and colored), pens, scissors, glue, markers and highlighters, crayons, construction paper, colored folders and three-ring, spiral and composition notebooks.