A great big THANK YOU to Creations for Charity, your generosity made it possible for us to brighten the Christmas of many children at 2 local elementary schools that were destroyed by Hurricane Harvey’s flood waters in Houston, Texas earlier this year.
Both Kolter and Moore Elementary schools took on several feet of water during the hurricane ruining everything in the schools as well as making the buildings unusable for this school year. Many of the families that make up these schools, both students and teachers, also had their homes severely damaged or destroyed. At Moore Elementary almost 50 families are still homeless as a result of the flood.
In HISD (Houston Independent School District) Kolter Elementary flooded and had to be relocated to another location while they rebuild. Four weeks after what was to be the first day of school, students finally got to start the school year. For Kolter Elementary we coordinated with PK teacher Kerri Lyons to fulfill the wish list of replacing classroom DUPLO.
Classroom DUPLO for Kolter Elementary
How can I even begin to thank you and your LEGO enthusiasts for all of the Duplo sets you purchased for my classroom? I have taught at Kolter for 34 years and had a dream classroom. In addition to tons of wonderful materials and books I had at least 15 Duplo sets and a large LEGO table in my block center. The devastating flood from Hurricane Harvey brought 5 feet of water into Kolter and we lost EVEYTHING. I can’t even begin to put into words what a loss that was in terms of having materials to teach children–especially 4 year olds. Preschool children need concrete materials to touch and explore in order for them to develop academic and sensory skills. I mean this sincerely that if it wasn’t for donations from kind people such as your group I don’t know where I would be in terms of being able to teach and meet the needs of my students today. Your kindness and generosity will always be in my heart and the hearts of my students who squealed with delight as we opened all of the boxes today! Happy Holidays! Kind Regards, Kerri Lyons PK Teacher @ Kolter Elementary
For Moore Elementary we coordinated with the principal and counselor and provided a LEGO set and 2 LEGO polybags for each of the 47 students left homeless by the flood.
LEGO gifts for Moore Elementary students left homeless by Hurricane Harvey
Moore Elementary is located in a suburb of Houston within the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District. The community it serves was besieged by Hurricane Harvey August, 2017. Hundreds and hundreds of families from the school and also staff members lost everything when the floodwaters of Cypress Creek poured over the banks and into their homes. Many of our families had to be rescued by boat, air-lifted or swam through rapid moving water to escape the wrath of Harvey.
Included in the devastation was Moore Elementary itself. During the flood Moore took on at least two and a half feet of water and suffered a massive sewage back-up, completely ruining every porous surface in the school. This means that ALL teaching materials and personal belongings were rendered un-useable and had to be destroyed or were destroyed by the floodwaters.
Our community is one of many that suffered at the hand of Harvey and we have come together as a community and staff to support one another and care for one another during this extremely difficult time. We were blessed to be able to be housed together, because many other schools in other districts affected in this way have had to be split up among available sites. The old Matzke Elementary building sat waiting for Windfern High School to move into it but the Board and CFISD administration decided that it would be best to keep us all together and allowed us to move in. Administration and Staff worked feverishly over a 7 day straight period – and again, many having suffered great personal losses in their own homes – to get the empty building on Jones Road ready and transformed into the new Moore On Jones. We opened our doors on September 11th, 2017, two weeks after the scheduled first day of school.
Thanks to the support of our community and so many communities across the United States and beyond, we are surviving and providing the best that we can for our beloved students and community. We are Moore Strong. #BeMoore Jennifer Nichols, Counselor @ Moore Elementary
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