BREA : Going the Distance for Students

Brea Olinda High School teacher Tori Lee will go to any length to help her students. This summer she’ll be going 4,000 miles, from Oregon to North Carolina.

Lee, who teaches English as a second language, will make her second bike trek across the country this summer to raise money for yearbooks, prom tickets and caps and gowns for her students. Many hail from impoverished countries and can ill-afford the “luxuries” other kids take for granted, Lee said.

Lee, 35, embarked on her first odyssey from Maine to Washington two years ago, raising $4,000 to provide such items for her kids. The money will come from pledges she will gather before the ride.

“These guys, they work twice as hard,” Lee said. “They’re trying to learn the language, they go to school, they’re holding down a job, trying to support their families. They need to be rewarded too.”

The money, which Lee invested in CD accounts and stretched out over two years, was running low this year, so she decided to make the trek again. She will log in more than nine hours a day during the 7 1/2-week trip.

Lee’s expenses, which she will underwrite, will total nearly $4,000--roughly the amount she is trying to raise.

But Lee said the point of the trip is to raise awareness about the hardships her students face along with donations for them. It boosts the students’ morale to know that other students care, she said.

So far, Lee has brought in about $3,300, $1,000 of which came from the high school’s Girl’s League, which earned the funds by sponsoring a dance.

“I want everybody to be involved,” Lee said. “I want it to be a community effort. And it makes the kids feel more special too. They know I love them.

“This way it lets them know everybody cares.”