Generous businesses
Mindy Clark
Saturday, May 26, 2007
I AM WRITING on behalf of some businesses and students of the Emporia community who recently showed kindness to those in need. I am an English language acquisitions teacher at Village Elementary School and I am proud to say Emporia is a great place to teach.
Recently, my students were studying economics and free enterprise. As a part of the learning, we started our own little business of selling cookies.
The students planned to donate the money to an organization in the community. Then the Greensburg tornado happened. When I showed my third- and fourth-graders the picture on the Internet, they wasted no time in deciding that this is who we were going to help. I have never seen more determined, hardworking, and excited learners before. They wrote letters to businesses, made advertisements and spoke to each class about their cause. These students were going to make a difference through their hard work, and they couldn’t wait.
We decided to ask businesses to donate cookies to help the students of Greensburg. An angel named Joe Russel, owner of Subway, blessed us with 200 cookies! His generosity gave me hope that there were other kind business owners that would donate, also. Later in the week Planet Sub, The Sweet Granada and Mr. Goodcents made contributions.
Our May 14 cookie sale was a great success! We sold all of our cookies and raised $187 to send to Greensburg students. I just can not believe the kindness and selflessness that our schools and businesses have in Emporia.
Thank you again to those businesses for helping a small group of caring students foster ideas such as generosity and kindness. You helped to plant a seed that will grow for many years to come. Thank you.