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Thursday, August 19, 2010
Lending a Helping Hand
By Andrea Schoellkopf
Journal Staff Writer
Ansely Emeanuwa was in his sixth-grade classes last year at Taft Middle School and noticed there were some students who were always asking him for pencils.
Or pens.
Or notebook paper.
Or scissors.
They never had school supplies, said Ansely, now 12.
So when school ended this spring, Ansely and a group of his friends from the school bus and church scoured the Vista del Norte neighborhood asking people to donate supplies.
Ansely rode his bicycle from his home near Osuna to Office Depot and Calvary Chapel seeking help. He also sought donations from Walmart and Bethesda Seventh-day Adventist Church.
"They said, 'Wow, a kid is doing something,' " Ansely said. "They helped me. A lot of neighbors donated supplies."
It wasn't until he started coming home with boxes of donations that his parents, Anselm and Cynthia, realized their active son was doing more than another fundraiser for church or school.
"Really, that's very thoughtful," Cynthia Emeanuwa said of the neighbors' contributions.
Ansely had created printouts with lists of school supplies and contact information for people who had promised him donations.
Proud of his son and worried about him riding around the North Valley, his father surprised him with a cell phone he had wanted last year and also bought him another bicycle.
For Albuquerque Public Schools, Ansely's work came at a much-needed time.
Sonja Martens of the APS Schools and Community Partnership Office said a significant drop in donations from its main benefactor, the KOAT-TV school supply drive, meant there are supplies for only 470 students this year, compared with 5,500 last year. She estimated there was about a 90 percent drop in contributions.
"With the economy, people are doing what they need to do," said Martens, adding she gets about 10 messages a day from schools or families needing supplies.
Ansely's stacks of spiral notebooks, piles of glue, pens, erasers, calculators, pencil boxes and numerous other items amounted to about $2,000 in supplies, she said, which will help another 100 students.
The 10-year-old KOAT supply drive actually benefits both APS and the state Public Education Department, which oversee distribution to needy students, said Tony Reed, creative services director for KOAT.
While more donations were delivered after APS picked up its portion, the station did realize the donations are low.
"We don't feel we've done anything differently this year with respect to getting the word out," Reed said. "It's the poor economy."
While the supply drive officially ended last week at local businesses partnering with the TV station, KOAT will continue to leave a collection box indefinitely at its station in the hopes of helping other needy students.
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