Community rallies around Pleasantview with donations for school after fire

Jan. 16--SAUK RAPIDS -- When tragedy strikes, it can be easy to feel like you're alone in the struggle. But when Pleasantview Elementary School lost four third-grade classrooms in a fire Sunday night, teachers and staff quickly found they were not alone

By Tuesday, not even 48 hours after the blaze, Pleasantview received an overwhelming amount of donations and monetary support from churches, businesses and community members.

"Within the course of about three hours, we had enough school supplies for every student in third grade," said Superintendent Aaron Sinclair at Monday night's Sauk Rapids City Council meeting.

He said without these donations Pleasantview resuming classes Tuesday would not have been possible.

Fire crews got the callabout 9 p.m. Sunday. The blaze started in the attic of the eastern-most classroom in Pleasantview's portables. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to Sauk Rapids Fire Chief Jason Fleming.

Two classrooms were destroyed and two others had smoke damage and were unfit to use. The four classrooms held about 80 percent of the school's third-graders, along with supplies and student belongings.

So the community stepped up.

"We saw that the need was there," said Jessica Hart, program director of KKJM-FM, Spirit 92.9 radio in St. Cloud. "I saw some of the parents posting about the students' items needing to be replaced."

The station posted on Facebook Monday afternoon it would have a school supply drive for Pleasantview and called on listeners to donate items like Kleenex, notebooks, hats and gloves.

Hart said by Tuesday afternoon there were about 10 bags of donations at the station.

"We're a contemporary Christian radio station so part of our mission is to serve our community here in Central Minnesota," Hart said. "We want to do that in tangible ways by meeting needs at the hands and feet of Jesus in our community."

Hart said the station also heard people wondering why donations were necessary and if the school district's insurance could handle it.

"But they don't replace stuff that belongs to the kids," Hart said.

Denise Hanson, pastor at Living Waters Lutheran Church in Sauk Rapids, is encouraging congregation to donate with this in mind.

"The specific things that (the district's) social worker told me (they need) are cleaning supplies, snacks, headphones, and winter boots, hats, mittens and snow pants," Hanson said.

While traditional school supplies are still helpful and can be saved for later, these items are often forgotten as pieces that help students have a normal day and be well-equipped to learn.

"Our congregation has always been so responsive -- people just flood in with financial donations and goods," Hanson said. "It's part of the DNA of our congregation, I think."

On Tuesday, Pleasantview staff organized bags and totes full of crayons, watercolor paints, books and more. Principal Aby Froiland's office became the storage space for many of these supplies.

"I think there are those typical school supplies and then there's that stuff that teachers buy all the time that people don't think about," she said.

Froiland explained teachers' classrooms are often full of things like complete collections of children's books they accumulated over the years, plastic totes and bins, and classroom games used for indoor recess.

"Those are all things that teachers buy with their personal money and let kids use year after year," she said.

PRIOR COVERAGE:Classes at Pleasantview Elementary resume Tuesday

But Froiland said she and the rest of Pleasantview's teachers are thankful for the quick response of emergency crews to save the rest of the school and those in the community who have given their support, whether in donations or just keeping Pleasantview in their thoughts.

"It's incredibly heartwarming," Hanson said about the community springing to action. "Seeing what happened to this neighbor of ours -- they were already so cramped for space and to have to make more out of nothing... They're our neighborhood. It just makes sense to help them."

Send news tips to Jordyn Brown at jnbrown@stcloudtimes.com or follow her on Twitter @thejordynbrown

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