A little bit can go a long way.

Yesterday was a gem of a day. Our school held an assembly at the end of the day, and while I normally dread assemblies because it means sitting on the bleachers for an hour telling kids to be quiet, this one was different. I loved every minute of this one.

We had an assembly for a couple of reasons. The first was that we wanted to have our commissioning ceremony for our missions teams. Every year during our two week spring break we have several teams that head off to different countries to do missions work. This years' teams are going to Ukraine, Mexico, Thailand, Argentina, and Costa Rica. There were about 80 kids in total. They had the teams come down to the gym floor, one member from each team briefly mentioned what they would be doing while gone, and then one of the dads prayed for them. Everyone in that gym was silent and prayed with him. It was so amazing!

The other reason for the assembly was my favorite part. At the beginning of the year we all saw the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Our student council president really felt called to help the people in some way. We, as a school, really wanted to help other STUDENTS, but we didn't just want to send money to a random charity. We wanted to know where it was going. It took them awhile, but the student council was able to contact another school in Slidell, Louisiana. It was a very small school, and it had been devastated by the Hurricane. Basically all that they had left was the shell of their building. They lost EVERYTHING. Our school began to raise money. The student council president said that he really felt that we, as a student body and school, could raise $10,000 for this school. If each student and staff member gave $10, we would reach that goal. There are about 800 students in our school, and with the staff added on the huge number suddenly seemed as though we could reach it. Students brought in allowance. Some students decided that they would dedicate the money earned on one shift of work to the fundraiser, two of the male teachers with long hair promised to shave their heads if the students raised the money, and one teacher even brought his little boys in to give their allowance during chapel. We slowly began to see the amount raised climb. I challenged two of my Spanish classes. I knew that they really wanted to go and eat at a Spanish restaurant, but that is something they usually only get to do when they are in Spanish 12. I said the class that raised the most money would get to go to the restaurant this year. One class raised over $800 and the other brought in about $180! I was so thrilled with the students and their giving hearts.

As the money continued to pour in, the powers that be decided that perhaps we should bring in someone that actually attends the school to accept the funds. More contacts were made and on Monday of this week the most wonderful family arrived from Slidell, Louisiana. The mom is a grade 4 teacher at the tiny school, and her son is in 7th grade in the school. Her husband came as well, although he does not have a position at the school. The students had opportunities to talk with this family and ask them about their lives post-Hurricane Katrina. This family was amazing…we all simply fell in love with them! Seeing FACES brought it all home to the students.
Yesterday, during our assembly, the student council president presented a check of over $14,000 to the family! They were to take this money back to their school and use it however the school needed it. It was such a blessing to listen to this family tell their story. They talked about how despite the horrible thing that had happened to them, they had seen amazing blessings come out of it. They talked about the way their community back home had bonded together in a way that they had never seen. They discussed being stretched beyond their comfort zones and realizing that they had more in them than they ever thought possible. Tears came to my eyes as I talked with the mother in the staff room. She told me about the little 4th graders that were desperate to return to school just for a sense of normalcy!

As we all sat in the bleachers and listened to the stories I saw something I had never seen before. The students were still, they listened with rapt attention. Once the check was presented they cheered wildly! The marching band played song after song as the teachers lost their hair. The best part of the day was seeing the huge smiles on everyone’s faces and feeling the sense of community.

I am humbled by my students. They are an amazing group of people. I hear so many bad things about young people today, but I wish that people would stop and realize how amazing young people really are. I learn so much from my students every day and I am so proud of them. A Vancouver news station came to the assembly to cover what was happening yesterday. As I was watching the news last night, it was so wonderful to see a simple, heart-warming story in the midst of all of the stories of murder, wrong-doing, and war. I was challenged yesterday to do more in my life to help others. This was so simple…our president got an idea and so much was accomplished because of it. I thought to myself, “What else could I do?”