Lincoln youngsters lend a hand
By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN
People all over the world have jumped on board with donating supplies and money to the people of Haiti after last month's devastating earthquake.
Youngsters in their own little world found out they can make a difference, too.
Heidi Wamser's kindergarten class at Lincoln Elementary School in Hays last week led a Haitian relief project for the rest of their school.
Students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade, along with staff members, filled zippered plastic storage bags with health care products to be sent to Haiti.
Wamser got the idea to have her students help with the project when she learned that her church, the First United Methodist Church in Hays, was designated as a location for people in the Hays and surrounding areas to drop off supplies to be flown to Haiti.
"My kids think that if they don't have a Nintendo DS, they need it," Wamser said of the world's best-selling hand-held electronic game console.
"I put all these things in a (gallon) bag and said this is what a person in Haiti needs," she said, with strong emphasis on the the word "needs."
So Wamser, in her ninth year as a teacher in Hays USD 489 and fourth at Lincoln, began talking to her students about Haiti and organized an all-school packing day for the supplies.
Every student who showed up in the Lincoln gym to help Thursday had a job of some sort, all the way from slipping their particular supply into the bag of a waiting student to zipping them shut and directing them to a table of boxes.
There were toothbrushes and fingernail slippers, Band-Aids and combs, bar soap and wash cloths and towels.
Meanwhile, in Wamser's classroom, 5- and 6-year olds were all abuzz while talking about their latest project.
They obviously learned their current-events lesson well.
When Wamser asked why they were doing the project in the first place, hands sprung in the air.
"We're trying to help the people of Haiti," Abbey Thornton said.
Why?
"They had an earthquake," responded Brenna Schwien.
And why do they need simple things that we take for granted in our own homes?
"All their stuff fell into the earthquake and got broke," explained McKinley Wamser, the teacher's daughter.
Students even knew why toothpaste couldn't be packed in the plastic bags that will got to Haiti on a plane, and instead will be shipped on a boat.
"It explodes," they said in unison.
"We've talked quite a bit about this," Heidi Wamser said. "I've shown them some (earthquake aftermath) pictures that weren't too graphic to try to help them understand."
They understand, evidenced by some of the answers given when Wamser asked them to name something the children of Haiti lost in the earthquake.
"Their mommy," Landon Riffel said.
"Their daddy," added Marquis Ward.
So children of Lincoln Elementary School in Hays, Kansas, in the middle of the United States last week learned that one person, no matter how young, can make a difference and that every little bit helps.
"It's amazing to see how my kids reacted to it," Wamser said. "It was an overhwelming experiment for them," one they won't soon forget.
"It's a good current event," she added.
"(An earthquake) not something you think about preparing your kids for. A tornado, yes, but not an earthquake ... makes us all think."