Boone County elementary schools help tornado victims | Community Spirit

FLORENCE, KY (FOX19) - After the recent tornado damaged homes and hurt people in Northern Kentucky, it didn’t take long for people and schools to step into action.

New Haven Elementary sent PTA emails and PTA eblasts the day after the tornado. In one week, they were able to collect $2800.00 in gift cards for Piner students and families. In addition, their collection included 5 van loads full of school, building, and cleaning supplies, and food and personal hygiene items were transported to relief areas. New Haven’ s support continued last week, when 5th grader Olivia Gore led students in a Penny War activity. Olivia initiated the fundraiser, made the table display, and came early to school each morning to collect money. As a result, NHES raised $2007 for the American Red Cross.

Florence Elementary School also collected items school-wide. Florence collected household items from the students and staff. The food collected became described as a “Mountain of HOPE.”  After just a week of collections, staff member Kathy Kuhn stated the collection was “overwhelming”. To help raise funds, the staff members were allowed to wear jeans all week if they donated $5.00.  As a result, they collected $628.00 for two families that lost everything.

Goodridge Elementary School helped out, too.  They collected $3,028.00 during their Penny War. The money will go to Piner Elementary and to Crittenden/Mt. Zion tornado victims.  Teacher Tami Sallee-Thomas said: “We had great fun with the penny war and this was our most successful. In the past the highest we had ever collected was $1,800.”

At North Pointe, Principal Jo Craven, the former principal of Piner Elementary, encouraged students, parents, and staff to join the relief efforts.  North Pointe collected gift cards and held a spring food drive to assist families in Piner. After learning about all the great support that Boone County Schools offered during this crisis, North Pointe’s Instructional Coach Stacie Greenwood says it best: “What a wonderful community we live in!”

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