FILLMORE : Students Pitch In to Help Quake Victims

She’s been saving her allowance to buy a television set for her bedroom, but 11-year-old Kelley Kaufman didn’t think twice about dipping into her reserves for $15.

“I didn’t mind giving it away,” Kelley said. “It was to help people.”

Kelley and her classmates at White Oak School in Westlake Village raised about $800 to help students and their families at San Cayetano School in Fillmore who were displaced by the Northridge quake. Karen Cooksey, principal of the 800-student Fillmore elementary school, traveled to White Oak with student representatives Monday to receive the donation.

Fillmore was pummeled more severely than any other city in Ventura County by the Jan. 17 quake, suffering an estimated $250 million in damage.

Cooksey said San Cayetano suffered only cosmetic damage, but the quake left nearly 40 of the school’s families homeless. She said the funds will be given directly to families who lost their houses or apartments.

The effort comes as more than 200 schools across the country are offering books, monetary donations and moral support to students in areas hard hit by the earthquake. Some schools sent letters or posters.

Hoping to ease the suffering of their counterparts in Fillmore, White Oak students turned over their piggy banks, withdrew money from their savings accounts and asked relatives to pitch in.

“This is an incredible offering of caring and love,” Cooksey said. “It’s teaching our students how people come together--that we are all one big family.”