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Donations sent to Texas elementary school

ALPENA — Alpena Public Schools, NEMCSA, All Saints, and Immanuel Lutheran School raised over $4,300 during the Hurricane Harvey Flood Relief fundraiser that took place two weeks ago for Guess Elementary in Beaumont, Texas.

“The generosity of our community was truly inspirational,” Besser Elementary Principal Eric Cardwell said. “The fact that a large cross-connect of our community participated reaffirms my belief in Americans that when there’s a crisis, we rally together. It doesn’t matter if we know one another, we can all empathize in a situation that folks are going through.”

Fifth-grader Rylee Hartman said they were first thinking of Hurricane Irma and how that was coming to Florida, but the students also were concerned about Hurricane Harvey.

“We put together a group and started making posters,” Hartman said. “We found out that this donation was going on, so we made sure that we donated a lot for the kids at Guess Elementary.”

Hartman said on the third day after people started bringing donations, the students walked in for school and there already was a bunch of items on the table.

“It was overflowing,” Hartman said. “We worked together to pack all the boxes and it was super fun to be able to pack everything.”

Cardwell said the students worked really hard to pack all the school supplies.

“We had so many donations and when shipping down pallets, we wanted to consolidate it,” he said. “The students really helped consolidate it and get it ready for our friends at Home Depot.”

Cardwell said Home Depot offered to ship the school supplies free of charge. The school supplies already have been shipped for the students at Guess Elementary.

“We think that the kids will really appreciate it down at Guess Elementary,” fifth-grader Isabella VanWagoner said.

VanWagoner said they aren’t sure how many school supplies were donated, but they filled two pickup trucks with boxes.

“We have a relationship with Guess Elementary that will continue forever,” Cardwell said.

Julie Goldberg can be reached via email at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688.

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