WESTMINSTER : Pupils Get ‘A’ Grade in Humanity

Ellen Tewell tries to teach her students more than just reading, writing and arithmetic. She also teaches them lessons in humanity.

Tewell, 47, is a sixth-grade teacher at Eastwood School in Westminster. A self-described “activist for social justice,” Tewell makes an effort to tell her pupils about the plight of the homeless and hungry in this country.

She has also begun to instill in them the rewards of helping the less fortunate.

For the past two years, Tewell and her sixth-graders have participated in the “Adopt-a-Family” program sponsored by Share Our Selves, a Costa Mesa-based charity organization. So far, $1,841 has been raised to help the families adopted by Tewell’s class and a second group of sixth-graders taught by Laurel Baker.

“The children have spent the last two weeks raising money so that two needy families can have a merry Christmas,” Tewell said. “We will buy the food for a complete holiday dinner with all the trimmings and gifts for the kids in the family.”

About 800 families have been adopted through Share Our Selves, with 300 more still in need of sponsors, according to Jean Forbath, SOS director.

Forbath said that most sponsors are individual families, community service organizations or business groups. She said schools in Irvine, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach have also adopted families, but the sixth-graders at Eastwood are the only school in Westminster to do so.

“I think it’s wonderful to have the students involved and the fact that they’ve worked to raise the money themselves is just great,” Forbath said.

Most of the money came from a car wash held Dec. 9 on the school parking lot where the students and some parents washed more than 100 cars to raise funds for their cause.

“The entire time, there were always at least eight to 10 cars lined up waiting to be washed,” Tewell said. “The community response was just great.”

The students also sold Christmas crafts at a holiday boutique and participated in a spell-a-thon in which sponsors agreed to pledge money each time a student scored 100% on a spelling test.

The students will shop for the presents for the families and have the gifts ready by Christmas.

Tewell, who has spent the last three summers helping the needy in Nicaragua, said her class is learning about this cause at just the right age.

“They’re like sponges absorbing everything they’re taught. It’s the perfect time to teach them to be concerned about others and not just their own Christmas,” Tewell explained. “They also feel a great deal of pride in doing this for someone else. I hope that from their experiences here, they’ll continue to be aware.”