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Providing Hope, Health & an Education-True Story

26 September 2008 421 views 5 Comments Email Email Print Print

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I received an e-mail this morning from Meetup.com. I signed up to be informed of possible volunteer opportunities in Las Vegas (where I am now staying). The message I received was about Whitney Elementary School, in East Las Vegas, Nevada. The e-mail contained a link to this truly inspirational and touching story. Sometimes we don’t realize what serious issues and struggles people (even children) are dealing with all around us. The school doesn’t have a website, or else I would post it for you. If anyone is interested in helping in some way, I can try to get the contact info for the school/principal for you.

Students Getting free haircuts at the school.

Students Getting free haircuts at the school.

The full article is here

Here is a short excerpt from it:

On her first day as principal at Whitney Elementary School more than four years ago, Sherrie Gahn noticed students in the lunch line were loading up their pockets with plastic ketchup packets.

A cafeteria worker explained to Gahn that the kids were taking the ketchup home so they would have something to eat for dinner.

“From that point on, no matter where I went, I started telling people about my kids,” Gahn said. “Someone has to be a voice for them.”

The kids of the future

When she took the job, Gahn had known her school, near Tropicana Avenue at Boulder Highway, served the low-income housing and weekly motels of the surrounding East Las Vegas

neighborhood. What she hadn’t known was that most of her 650 students were homeless or teetering on the brink.

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5 Comments »

  • annaverawilliams said:

    My God. That’s incredible.

    One of the most important things with kids is to give them a purpose. Something constructive they can have as a game and something worthwhile to work toward. Like anti-drugs or human rights activities.

    Also - why don’t we help them get a website? Maybe a Wordpress blog where the students could also learn to how to post their own stories etc. Just a thought … I think they will have a better chance for the future if they become very computer-literate.

    annaverawilliamss last blog post..Persistance

    # 26 September 2008 at 4:39 pm
  • Holly (author) said:

    I know Anna. YOu are awesome. I was thinking about the same thing. And convenient that I just posted about Wordpress MU - if the students wanted to have their own blogs and do something constructive, that would be an awesome way to do so. I will let you know any news. I want to reach the principal and see what she thinks or would like. :)

    # 26 September 2008 at 5:00 pm
  • Jenna said:

    This is beautiful…no other words to describe it.

    Thats a great idea Anna…it always breaks my heart to see innocent kids deal with these issues. When you can Holly, please send the contact info. I may not be able to do anything financially now, but when my situation changes, I would like to get involved somehow. I am going to check meetup.com for volunteer opportunities in my area.

    Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

    # 26 September 2008 at 5:02 pm
  • Dustin said:

    You know, the sad truth is that this type of thing is going on all around us. My heart goes out to the “less fortunate” but my heart-strings are tugged especially hard when children are involved.

    I, too, was thinking that somehow getting a site up for them would be a good start. I’m on-board! If there’s anything that I can do to be of help, just let me know.

    Every time I hear stories or see situations where children are in need I think of that song “The Greatest Love of All”. (I guess lots of things remind me of songs LOL!)

    Anyway…there’s any chance you haven’t heard it…check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1OoM3N7mfc - The first verse always grabs me!

    # 26 September 2008 at 5:36 pm
  • Dustin said:

    Just had another thought…a good way to start a site for them might include scanned images of letters the kids have written if for any reason they don’t have access to computers…

    Just a thought.

    # 26 September 2008 at 5:39 pm

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