Last June, some School District 72 elementary school principals were asked for school supply donations for a rural school in the Baja, California state of Mexico.
Gordon Burkholder was delighted with the response from students, staff and principals at Ripple Rock, Penfield and Oyster River Elementary Schools.
“The donated boxes of new and used pencil crayons, pens and pencils, erasers, rulers, notebooks and paper filled my truck and my heart,” Burkholder said.
Early on the morning of Monday, Dec. 9 the supplies were taken out of their storage places in preparation of the arrival of the teachers and children of the Jose Vasconcelos Escuela Primaria Rural.
“After greetings and introductions I managed to convey the idea that we had come to give gifts to their children from the school children in Campbell River,” Burkholder said..
The children were assembled in the courtyard and arranged by age in single file. The principal, Rosa Perez explained the situation and the procedure for getting their gifts. After that they came up to the tables set out and were given a box of supplies.
In English or Spanish they all said thank-you for the gifts and they showed in their eyes how appreciative they were to receive these small presents. The youngest could hardly contain their enthusiasm and were headed back to class ready to open the bags but were called back to their place to wait until everyone had their gift. A few final words and a round of applause from the staff and students and the event was ended.