HOUSTON – Oct. 9, 2017 – Anderson Principal Kristin Falcon and her staff were at their school on Saturday afternoon to welcome a truck full of donated supplies for the school’s art, PE and music programs.

Lipscomb Elementary and their home district, the Escambia County School District near Pensacola, Fla., made the donation, delivering more than 150 boxes to the school in a Ryder truck.

“It’s amazing for our school. We have been making do with what we had,” said Falcon. “This is going to get our kids back into learning music and art.”

Anderson Elementary was the hardest hit school in the district during Hurricane Harvey, with flooding in the gym, as well as two portable buildings used for art and music. The items donated on Saturday were collected to help replace items lost in the water, including crayons, brushes, paint, markers, jump ropes, mats, musical instruments and sporting equipment.

The connection between Lipscomb Elementary and Anderson Elementary was personal. “Two of our students have family there, and their grandfather is actually the superintendent of the district,” Falcon said.

That personal connection was expressed in the care packages that the Lipscomb students and staff created for Anderson that included supplies, as well as gift cards to stores so teachers could purchase other items.

In addition, every student at Lipscomb wrote messages of hope and well wishes to the students at Anderson. Lipscomb Elementary Principal Susan Sanders said the donation drive and letter campaign was a way to teach her students about helping others, even when the community in need is hundreds of miles away.

“Education is about preparing students for life. Hurricane Harvey’s impact on Anderson Elementary allowed our schools to incorporate both life and academic lessons,” Escambia Superintendent Malcolm Thomas said. “Our students learned that giving is rewarding. Our teachers used the event to create a real life communication lesson.”

For Falcon and her staff, Saturday’s special delivery was a reminder of how kind people can be, even those who live hundreds of miles away. “It’s amazing, I’m completely touched, my staff is completely touched, we are just overwhelmed,” she said. “There aren’t even words to express what something like this means.”