Dear Editor:I have a feel good story I'd like to share with you. I'm a third grade teacher at Rio Hondo Elementary. This is the second year that I've been trying to make my class be more aware of their carbon footprint so we recycle. By collecting glass, aluminum and plastic, we've earned a lot of money, enough to buy some games, pillows, a pencil sharpener and reserve a pizza party for June. When we had earned another chunk of money, I wanted them to vote again on what they wanted to spend this on. I suggested a pizza party now, a treat, more games, another pencil sharpener (they always break), or to save it for something big later on. One student suggested that we donate it to someone who needs it. I was so touched to hear that an eight year old would think of someone else. The class voted for donating, but next we had to decide to whom. It was narrowed down to children or Haiti earthquake relief. A discussion started in one corner of the room and quickly spread that if we donate it to Haiti, a lot of children there would be helped, too. A representative was chosen to announce to the school what we were doing. Other donations began to come in from around the school, including several parents of the students in my class. Our grand total came to $157 to be sent to UNICEF for Haiti Earthquake Relief. I wanted to share this with you since it's easy to generalize that the world is a bad place with little hope for change yet here is a class of eight year olds who are working hard to help kids they'll never meet or know. They just wanted to reach out and show that they care. Some of my own negative attitudes about the state of the world today and worry about future generations just crumbled away and took on a sunnier view. - Maggie Stava, Teacher, Rio Hondo Elementary

********** Published: April 2, 2010 - Volume 8 - Issue 50