St. Mary’s raises money for California school affected by fires

Feb. 13--St. Mary's Elementary School in Joplin is paying it forward one penny at a time.

Although none of the students there today were attending the Catholic elementary school in 2011, when the former school building near 26th Street and Moffet Avenue was destroyed by a tornado, classes recently reached out to help their counterparts in California.

"In our Catholic world, it's important for people to know that people care," said Ann Hamlet, St. Mary's principal. "And this is just one way that we could pay it forward for these students in California."

St. Mary's had received a letter from St. Rose Catholic School in Santa Rosa, California, Hamlet said. St. Mary's has often sought to help other schools going through difficult times, and Hamlet said this year's fundraiser, held during Catholic Schools Week, Jan. 29-Feb. 2, raised roughly $1,800.

St. Rose Principal Kathy Ryan said she and the school deeply appreciated the gesture and are already thinking about giving back themselves.

"I was able to go in and tell our kids that just about a year from now, we'll be in the exact same spot," Ryan said, reached by phone Monday. "I think it is very much part of the Catholic identity because it's just, you know, service is just part of what we do, and kindness. You know, we have something here called 'the St. Rose way,' and that is we are kind when no one is looking."

Ryan said two classrooms at the school were damaged by wildfires, but the surrounding area was so badly damaged that the building was inaccessible for nearly three months. Additional damage was caused by a water main break in the school in the weeks after the fire. The money will go toward covering what insurance didn't provide for and to help pay for an annual science camp that students were unable to raise funds for while away from the school.

The first class of St. Mary's kindergartners after the school's former location was demolished will finish its first year of junior high a few months from now. This coming tornado season will be the area's seventh since the devastating storm in late May 2011 in Joplin.

Even so, St. Mary's hasn't forgotten. Inspired by the assistance it got in rebuilding and restocking after its building was a casualty of the tornado, the Catholic elementary school recently adopted the northern California school and held a "penny war" fundraiser for it.

"Whenever I read the letter from the lady and told the students about it, they had a very somber face," Hamlet said. "Because they remember not very long ago people sent them money after the tornado."

The check will be cut and sent this week to the California school, Hamlet said.

Previous gift

Last year, the St. Mary's students raised money for the elementary school at Goodman after it was destroyed by a tornado.

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