Missouri residents reach out to PC
Most elementary teachers acquire tons of school supplies and teaching aids over the course of their careers, so when it comes time for retirement, those supplies are usually stuffed into storage and forgotten about.
That’s exactly what happened to retired teacher Ruth Ann Smith’s supplies she acquired during the 35 years she spent as a teacher until she found the perfect place for it all to go – Phil Campbell Elementary School.
The day after the deadly tornado outbreak in Alabama, Ruth Ann Smith was watching TV with her husband, Tom Smith, in their Franklin County, Mo., home. She saw the complete devastation and destruction suffered in several towns across the Southern state and she knew she wanted to help out where she could.
“I had all these supplies that I knew could be used somewhere,” Ruth Ann Smith said. “I just needed to find out who really needed them.”
Ruth Ann and Tom Smith immediately sprang into action. They found the phone number for their local “Newspapers in Education” contact who had previously helped them with a book drive for a library in Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This phone call started the trail that eventually led to PCES.
Ruth Ann Smith said their contact got them in touch with Brad English with the Alabama Newspaper Association who in turn got them in touch with Dr. Craig Pouncey, who serves as the deputy state superintendent in the division of administrative and financial services.
“Dr. Pouncey sent us a list of places that really needed help in terms of school supplies – places that really had major damage,” Tom Smith said. “We picked the school from that list.”
Ruth Ann Smith said their decision was based on several coincidences that she felt pointed them in the direction of PCES.
“We’re from Franklin County, Mo., and Phil Campbell is in Franklin County, Ala.,” she explained. “Also, in our city of Washington, we have nine elementary schools in our district and one of them is named ‘Campbellton,’ so we just felt like this was the right school to receive these supplies.”
Once the Smiths knew where the supplies were headed, Ruth Ann Smith sent out an e-mail to other teachers in her school district in an attempt to gather even more items.
What she didn’t realize when she sent out the e-mail was that she and her husband would have to rent a U-Haul to transport all the items both she and other willing teachers wished to donate to the tornado-stricken area.
“Most of the items are kindergarten or pre-k level but there is also a good bit of stuff for higher elementary grades on up to sixth grade,” she said.
On Thursday, the Smiths arrived at PCES and revealed the packed-to-the-brim U-Haul full of things like bulletin boards, reading resource books, construction paper, glue, crayons, markers, decorations and instructional aides like puppets and music.
“This is such a blessing for our school and for our teachers,” PCES Principal Jackie Ergle said. “They knew everything we might ever need down to glue and Christmas ribbon.
“We will be able to do so many things with these supplies. The teachers don’t receive instructional supply money anymore and they just don’t have the money for it to come out of their own pockets right now, so this is a tremendous help to us and we appreciate it so much.”
The Smiths smiled as representatives from the elementary school and the central office expressed their gratitude for the generous donation.
“We are just happy we could do this,” Ruth Ann Smith said. “We’re glad to help.”
