Elementary students deliver books to Sullivan

With Roachdale Elementary Principal Beth Waterman (far left) and Sullivan Elementary Principal Samantha Phegley (far right) flanking the collection, North Putnam elementary students deliver books last Friday for their Sullivan peers. Present are (left group) Natalyn Franklin, Zane Wass, Everly Boller, Aylor Oliver (right group) Ben Knowling, Isaac Garriott, Jaylin Higgins and Jayden Odore.

Courtesy photo

ROACHDALE — In the aftermath of the tornado that struck Sullivan, it came on Principal Beth Waterman’s heart, as she put it, to do something for the students there.

She recognized that they and their families were impacted in different ways. It hit home personally, as Waterman used to live and work in Sullivan, while a brother-in-law and a niece lost their homes.

Guided by Waterman and a desire to help, students at Roachdale and Bainbridge elementary schools collected new books for their peers in Sullivan. They were delivered on May 12 to Sullivan Elementary, but destined to go home with the students.

“Our students here get involved in community, and we promote having a sense of community in our buildings, so we wanted to take that outside of here,” Waterman said about their participating in the effort.

The mission was to accrue as many books as possible as students were settled and heading into the summer break. It was understanding that many of them lost everything, including their own books. Ultimately, each student was to have at least one to read.

“I think it’s really nice that we were able to put together a whole bunch of books for the kids to have,” fourth-grader Sadie Oliver said. “If I lost a lot, or any of us in this school, I think we would all be saddened, wanting someone to help us get books.”

More than 800 books were donated by the students and teachers who had extra copies, as well as by Random House. As a personal touch, students wrote their names and grades inside of each book.

“It felt nice, ’cause I felt like we were doing a really good deed,” fifth-grader Emmett Wood added for his part. He defined such deeds as helping others to fill a need.