I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the Olympics. There were some incredible stories. The students at Franklin kicked off the beginning of the Olympics with an assembly for “Right to Read Week”. Each classroom represented a different country and displayed each country’s flag as they entered the gym. The students were treated to a guest reader. At the end of the week, the classrooms once again traveled to the gym displaying their flags. This time the students were led around the gym by a torch carrier from the 2002 Olympics. The special guest carried the torch on one of the legs around the United States. He was dressed in the original outfit and carried the actual torch that he carried in 2002. It was a great week.
Our students and families have been very busy doing acts of kindness for others during this last month. I am truly speechless by how many wonderful and caring families we have at Franklin. It is an awesome place to be. The following are just some of the acts that have occurred here at Franklin Elementary:
It began with one of our families being devastated by a house fire. I sent one email out on a Thursday and the response by Friday was unbelievable. We filled many boxes of nonperishable food items and we were able to purchase over $600 in gift cards for the family. We had other families deliver meals to the house. I received many other emails and phone calls from parents asking what else was needed.
As soon as the news about the earthquake in Haiti, our student council members were meeting to discuss what we could do to help. The Red Cross was in need of everything so our student council decided to collect money to send to the Red Cross. There are student council representatives in each classroom and each day the members would collect the money. We ended up collecting over $400.
The student council also sponsored another cause. This time the students decided to help burn victims. The students at Franklin collected 7,700 cans for ACBC which stands for Aluminum Cans for Burned Children. ACBC is an organization associated with Metro Hospital Burn Unit and raises money to provide a variety of services for burned children. ACBC holds two camps every year in Ohio. They give scholarships and also provide necessities for burn survivors. Franklin raised $165.00 which pays for one child to go to camp. The students did a fabulous job. The Kindergarten classes of Mrs. Calhoun and Mrs. Holman collected over 5,000 cans.
The acts of kindness did not end there. We have a group of young girls who are involved in Girl Scouts. They meet each week at Franklin. They wanted to take on some service projects at the school and collect pop tabs to donate to Children’s Hospital for dialysis. Their goal was to collect 10 pounds of pop tabs. They were able to triple that amount. They collected over 30 pounds of pop tabs. That will be a big help for some children in need of medical care. The service projects are involving the students in our FFOP efforts to recycle. The students at Franklin are recycling juice pouches. Those pouches need to counted and mailed to a company that recycles them by making purses and other items out of the pouch material. In the Spring, the girls will also be starting our composting efforts during lunch. In the fall, one of our parents built a composting bin for us to use. The girls will be promoting the composting of food and will also be in charge of carrying the food out to the compost. We are lucky to have such an involved group of girls who are willing to help out.
All of these events just happened in the last month. We have an amazing school with families and student who care about others who are in need and who care about our environment. I would like to thank all of the families for their help. It took a whole school to be able to make this much of a change in just a month.