FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Reaching Out to Victims of Blast

The Salvation Army in Oklahoma City will be receiving a check from students at Roch Courreges Elementary School in Fountain Valley to help victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.

For the past two weeks, student council members Katie Berger, Jamie O’Day, Truc Le, David Hansen and Eugenie Shieh have forgone their noon recess to collect spare coins and bills from their fellow students to send to Oklahoma. So far, they have about $300.

“I saw a lot of pictures in the newspaper--one was this fireman carrying out a baby--and they were really sad,” said Katie Berger, fifth-grader and council vice president, who started the fund-raising drive.

The school conducted a similar effort after the Japanese earthquake and sent $170 to victims in Kobe, Katie said, and she thought they should do the same for Oklahoma City. School Principal Lorraine Leavitt encouraged the student council to pick a worthy organization to receive the money.

“I think when kids see these things on television they should know there is a way they can help, even at their age,” Leavitt said.

Jamie O’Day said she learned an important lesson and hopes her fellow students feel the same way. “We have a lot compared to those people,” said the 11-year-old student council treasurer. “I think that this money will help.”

Fifth-grader Jim Hernandez agreed. “I don’t know if other schools are doing this,” he said. “But I think other schools should start doing this.”