West Newsmagazine 11-15-17

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Parkway Central sends 7,500
pounds of supplies to Puerto Rico
By JESSICA MESZAROS
After tragedy struck Puerto Rico twice in
September, students and staff members from
Parkway Central High answered the call.
During the week of Oct. 16-20, the
school held a collaborative effort called,
“PCH Unidos por Puerto Rico” [PCH
United for Puerto Rico.] In the span of one
school week, about 7,500 pounds of food,
water and other supplies were collected
for immediate send-off. The pick up of the
items from the school took place on Nov.
1, and the items shipped to Puerto Rico on
Friday, Nov. 3.
School entities, such as Project Help,
Parkway Central High Players, International
Club, ESOL classes and Spanish
classes, collaborated to organize the relief
efforts in response to the devastating
effects of hurricanes Irma and Maria, the
latter regarded as the worst documented
natural disaster in Dominica.
Parkway Central High students take
inventory of donations for the “PCH Unidos
por Puerto Rico.” [Photo courtesy of Parkway]
Parkway Central High has several Puerto
Rican students and staff members, some
of whom are in contact with friends and
family in the affected area.
“When I heard about what was going on
in Puerto Rico, my heart sank to my feet,”
freshman Diego Cruz said. Cruz lives in
the local area with his mother, and the rest
of his family lives in Puerto Rico.
“I’m not just donating to Puerto Rico,
I’m donating to my family, too,” Cruz said.
“When my family called for the first time,
they said they didn’t have light, they didn’t
have energy or clean water.”
Staff members also bonded over the idea
of a fundraiser for the area.
“I had a friend living in Puerto Rico, and
she has a 9-month-old daughter who is
the same age as my own [child],” Spanish
teacher Christy Keating said. “I felt like
there was this connection from one mother
to another. I can’t imagine going through
that without things like diapers, formula
and other essentials.”
It was from concern such as Keating’s
and Cruz’s that the idea for “PCH Unidos
por Puerto Rico” was born.
“Three weeks ago, the Spanish teachers
and other international club members
reached out to us and said that Hurricane
Maria had devastating effects on Puerto
Rico, and we needed to do something
about it,” Vivian Lacson, sophomore and
Project Help co-secretary, said.
Organizations like Project Help had representatives
set up a table during each lunch
period to collect cash and other donations
from students during the collection week.
According to Lacson, almost $800 in donations
was collected just in one day.
Joe Bradley, an orchestra teacher actively
communicating with loved ones in Puerto
Rico, suggested the school collect non-perishable
food items, bottled water, cash and
batteries to donate to the recovery effort.
“I was born and raised in Puerto Rico,”
said Bradley, who has “many family members”
who are “actually there.”
A friend of Bradley’s directed him to a
Facebook video that showed retired U.S.
soldiers, led by Cavalry Scout Jason Maddy,
who were helping with relief efforts in the
more secluded areas of Puerto Rico.
“The video caught my attention because
they were in Mayagüez, which is my town,”
Bradley said. “They knew there were a lot
of people in trouble and that they were
completely disconnected. So they started to
go toward the mountains to find people that
were completely disconnected from others.
So far, to this day, they’re still down there.”
The drive collected about 4,201 pounds
of water, 2,896.7 pounds of boxed food and
supplies, 115.2 pounds of dog food, 233
pounds of baby formula and 3.8 pounds of
water filters.
Theater teacher Nicole Voss organized
the transportation of the goods with Air,
Land & Sea Express, a freight forwarding
service out of Maryland Heights. Participating
students spent additional time moving
the resources from the high school to the
district’s facilities building on Nov.1, where
the items were placed on pallets and shrinkwrapped
for pick up on Nov. 3.
The goods will be transported to Jacksonville,
Florida, and loaded onto a container
ship en route to Mayagüez, Puerto
Rico’s eighth-largest municipality. The
hope is that the supplies will arrive in time
for Thanksgiving.
Participating students hope that other
school districts will host similar drives.
“Everything is step-by-step, not jumpby-jump,”
Cruz said. “It’s a lot of small
steps, and events like this can really help
Puerto Rico take those steps.”
November 15, 2017
WEST NEWSMAGAZINE
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