Schools Rally to Quake Relief Drive : 2 Weeks of Fund-Raising Events for Mexico Wind Down

At San Fernando High School, students ran a noontime talent show.

At Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, they auctioned off the services of fellow students for a day of carrying books and running errands.

And at Sherman Oaks Elementary School they brought in piggy banks filled with change.

For two weeks, San Fernando Valley students have been raising thousands of dollars to benefit people injured in the Mexico City earthquakes Sept. 19 and 20.

Drive Ends Today

The Los Angeles Unified School District launched the fund-raising drive--called “L.A. Students--Friends in Need”--on Sept. 30. It is scheduled to end today, although officials expect money to trickle in for several weeks.

The district’s goal was to raise $250,000, but school officials doubt that will be met. They said that each school will send its money directly to the American Red Cross and that results of the drive will not be known until the Red Cross totals the contributions.

The money will be sent by the American Red Cross to the Mexican Red Cross, which will purchase medicine, hospital supplies and related items, said Ron Farina, director of school relations for the Los Angeles chapter of the American Red Cross. The contributions will also finance construction of neighborhood clinics in Mexico City, he said.

School officials say they are worried, however, that the Mexico effort has been competing with other fund-raising drives, including a current PTA campaign and an upcoming United Way drive.

Other Efforts Crimped

Moreover, a fund-raising drive last spring for Ethiopian famine victims, which raised about $425,000, and other relief efforts for Mexican earthquake victims have restricted the district’s own money-raising campaigns, according to Alfred Clark, the district’s health services administrator, who coordinated the Ethiopian and Mexican programs.

“You could reach a saturation point,” he said. “I hope that’s not the case. Mexico’s a close neighbor.”

In the Mexican relief effort, students at almost all of the schools have been donating cash during homeroom periods. But the efforts have not stopped there.

At Robert Frost Junior High School in Granada Hills, students made presentations on earthquake preparedness during homeroom sessions. About $500 has been raised so far, according to principal Gerald Horowitz.

Student Awareness

“We’ve been using this to make students aware not only of earthquakes but that we’re our brothers’ keepers,” Horowitz said. “This area was heavily damaged in the 1971 quake. That’s being stressed.”

Also spurring the fund raising, Horowitz said, is that 542 of the school’s 1,386 students are bused from inner-city areas, and many of them are Latino. “That augments our understanding of Mexico’s problems,” he said.

At San Fernando High School, students held the talent show, watched television programs about the temblor and have raised $1,500, principal Bart Kricorian said.

At El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, students have collected cans for recycling and sponsored a dance, raising more than $500, principal Larry Foster said.

Students on Auction

Meanwhile, Birmingham High School students on Wednesday auctioned off the errand-running services of female students to male students. The tables were turned Thursday, as male students went on the auction block.

“The average price was $5,” principal Jack Jacobson said. “One of the girls went for $60.”

So far, about $2,100 has been raised through donations and events such as a walk-a-thon around Birmingham’s running track, Jacobson said. The school’s goal is $5,000.

“We say, ‘Go with one less Coke and candy bar and give that money to the earthquake victims,’ ” Jacobson said.