> Randallstown students reach out to Baltimore homeless
>
> SUSAN C. INGRAM
>
> The wall in the main lobby of Randallstown High School is plastered with
> hundreds of colorful paper hands. Each hand holds the name of a student
> who donated to the school's Helping Hands campaign to benefit Health
> Care for the Homeless, a homeless advocacy group in Baltimore, and Our
> Daily Bread, a food program for the needy.
>
> The project was sparked in Amy Thonnings' ninth-grade English class when
> students read about a group of Los Angeles students who raised funds to
> fill 5,000 backpacks with school supplies for homeless children in their
> community.
>
> Thonnings' class decided to duplicate the effort for Baltimore's
> homeless.
>
> For every $1 donated, people received a paper hand on which they wrote
> their names. The hands were then affixed to a banner in the lobby.
> Donations ranged from small to large, with one student donating $120,
> according to Thonnings.
>
> "She said she was going to spend that money on Christmas presents for
> people who had a lot more than these people," Thonnings said. "That
> stopped me and made me think about what a good effort it had been."
>
> The project blossomed into a school-wide drive that in the three weeks
> leading up to the winter break raised $1,000 from students, faculty and
> staff.
>
> Thonnings purchased 100 bags from a Lexington Market vendor and
> purchased an assortment of items to stuff them with, including hats,
> socks, gloves, water bottles and lip balm.
>
> "All of the bags are going to Health Care for the Homeless and they run
> a clinic out of their location," Thonnings said. For the clinic,
> Thonnings is also collecting Band-Aids, latex gloves and coffee and
> sugar for its canteen.
>
> Last Wednesday afternoon a half dozen students and a parent gathered in
> Thonnings classroom to finish packing the bags for delivery.
>
> The group of ninth-grade girls was all of one mind as to why they had
> suggested and pursued the project.
>
> "I'm doing it to help people not as fortunate as us," Kyra Odom said.
>
> The other five girls agreed.
>
> That spirit traveled beyond school grounds and reached Ivan Rodriguez, a
> Randallstown resident and father of children who attended Randallstown
> High 20 years ago.
>
> Rodriguez found his way to Thonnings, check in hand, to make a donation
> to the project that he heard about on a local television news show the
> night before.
>
> "It was on the news last night, and the program and what they're doing
> and the girls' work makes us feel so good," he said. "This means a lot
> to us and the community. We're proud of this place."
>
> That's the kind of connection Principal Cheryl Pasteur wants to see her
> students making with the outside world.
>
> Pasteur said that a different theme for student projects was developed
> for each academic quarter. First quarter projects revolved around school
> beautification. Second-quarter projects, of which Helping Hands is a
> part, focused on giving back to the community. The third quarter will
> include service projects and the fourth quarter will in some way tie all
> those concepts together, Pasteur said.
>
> "The projects are important just to remind [students] that their lives
> are not as narrow as they might think they are," she said. "We get so
> myopic in our scope. High school is our last shot in helping our young
> people, along with their parents, understand that we all must be
> global."
>
> Student projects include a memorial garden to Army Reserve Sgt. Kendell
> Kioma Frederick, a former Randallstown student killed by a roadside bomb
> near Tikrit, Iraq, in October 2005.
>
> "The garden will recognize any student here who has distinguished him or
> herself," Pasteur said.
>
> Students also collected canned goods for area shelters, toys for the
> U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots drive, visited children at Sinai
> Hospital and made cards for Augsburg Lutheran Home & Village.
>
> Last Friday after school closed for winter break, Thonnings and her
> students drove downtown to deliver the bags and other donations to
> Health Care for the Homeless and Our Daily Bread.
>
> "It's been a good effort and a good school effort, and I'm really proud
> of these kids in particular because they worked so hard," Thonnings
> said. "For the kids to see it all the way through has been great."
>
> For more information, go towww.hchmd.org.
>
> Community Times