SIMI VALLEY : Students Get Gift From L.A. County School

Students at Atherwood Elementary School in Simi Valley got a pleasant aftershock from January’s Northridge earthquake when a Los Angeles County school sent them money to fix equipment broken in the quake.

“I was surprised, because they don’t even know us and they sent money to help us,” said sixth-grader Amanda Zopfi, president of the Atherwood Student Council.

“It feels really special,” added Rhiannon Snyder, a sixth-grader and the council secretary.

The check for $350 came from Melbourne Elementary School in Lakewood after students there conducted a “Quarters for Kids” drive, said Cynthia D. Regius, a Melbourne teacher and student council adviser.

The children wanted to help a school that had been badly damaged by the 6.8-magnitude quake, Regius said. She suggested Atherwood because her sister’s children go there and Simi Valley did not get much attention on the news, Regius said.

“The students learned that one person alone can’t make much of a difference, but if we all get together we can,” Regius said.

Gary Mellinger, Regius’ nephew and treasurer of the student council, said he was surprised by the gesture.

“They got $350 from quarters,” the sixth-grader said. “That must have been a lot of kids helping.”

The teachers and student council at Atherwood will work together to decide what the money should be used to replace, said Principal Beverly Radloff. The money could go to repair a new $200 overhead projector or any number of tape recorders and microscopes that broke in the earthquake, Radloff said.