For Release

December 1, 2005                                                                        

Project HEART tutors recognized by Congressman Poe
for fundraising efforts aiding students affected by Katrina

 

Greenville, NC - ECU Project HEART tutors and elementary students at Sam Bundy Elementary School in Farmville were heartbroken over the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and wanted to help the relief efforts. ECU’s Project HEART tutors took a leadership role in organizing a school-wide “jar wars” to raise money for the Gulf Coast victims.  Working together, Project HEART tutors, students, teachers, parents, administrators raised over $2,500. 

The students, tutors and Dr. Deborah Webb, principal of Sam Bundy, elected to send the money directly to the Sabine Pass school district in Sabine Pass, Texas.   This small school district has only one school that serves all students, K-12.  Already ravaged by the effects of Hurricane Katrina, this area received a second blow when Hurricane Rita made landfall near the small community.  The school received damage to the gymnasium, auditorium and roof.  Students were out of school for a month.

November 8, 2005, from the house floor, Congressman Ted Poe of Texas stated the students were “wonderful examples of Americanism and volunteerism”.   Congressman Poe recognized “there was no red tape, no Federal bureaucracy, just a bunch of kids in a small town in North Carolina that wanted to help some other kids in Texas.”  ECU’s Project HEART tutors spearheading the fundraising efforts were Heather Grice, Mallory Harrison, Heather Suggs, and Morgan Vance—all preservice elementary teachers. 

The full speech from Congressman Poe can be read at: http://www.house.gov/poe/remarks/Nov05/schoolkids11-8.htm

 

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For more information on this story or Project Heart please contact Dr. Betty Beacham, Director of Project Heart, at 252-328-4357 or BEACHAMB@ecu.edu.