Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Weekend
April 25, 2008
Pg. 10
Sussex, N.J.
Joan Smith's class at High Point Regional High School is special; all 13 students are cognitively impaired, and some have physical disabilities as well. Often, these young men and women are the recipients of charitable efforts, but thanks to Smith, they also give back. Each year, for Make A Difference Day, they hold collection drives for charity.
For 2007, class members decided to help troops serving in Iraq. "They can't even talk to their families. They can't get to the phone all the time," observes freshman Dexter Thoma, 15.
The students chose to collect notes and letters for soldiers to let them know they care. The class manned booths at school sporting events, providing notecards and pens for spectators. When money began pouring in, too, the group decided to use it for prepaid phone cards. Thoma "hunted people down" from his wheelchair at home football games. "It was easy," he says. "Everyone at school knows me."
On Oct. 27, teacher's aide Janet Witt also set up the class's collection jar and signs at a church prayer breakfast, raising an additional $70.
In all, Smith's class collected 1,700 letters and $3,300 worth of phone cards, which the students sent to Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, then-commanding general of the Multi-National Corps Iraq, for distribution. Many of the soldiers even wrote back. "It was an incredibly thoughtful thing," says Odierno, who visited the school on a recent leave. "These are extraordinary individuals who care about others."
$10,000 Make A Difference Day grant by Paul Newman and Newman's Own Foundation goes to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.
April 25, 2008
Pg. 10
Sussex, N.J.
Joan Smith's class at High Point Regional High School is special; all 13 students are cognitively impaired, and some have physical disabilities as well. Often, these young men and women are the recipients of charitable efforts, but thanks to Smith, they also give back. Each year, for Make A Difference Day, they hold collection drives for charity.
For 2007, class members decided to help troops serving in Iraq. "They can't even talk to their families. They can't get to the phone all the time," observes freshman Dexter Thoma, 15.
The students chose to collect notes and letters for soldiers to let them know they care. The class manned booths at school sporting events, providing notecards and pens for spectators. When money began pouring in, too, the group decided to use it for prepaid phone cards. Thoma "hunted people down" from his wheelchair at home football games. "It was easy," he says. "Everyone at school knows me."
On Oct. 27, teacher's aide Janet Witt also set up the class's collection jar and signs at a church prayer breakfast, raising an additional $70.
In all, Smith's class collected 1,700 letters and $3,300 worth of phone cards, which the students sent to Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, then-commanding general of the Multi-National Corps Iraq, for distribution. Many of the soldiers even wrote back. "It was an incredibly thoughtful thing," says Odierno, who visited the school on a recent leave. "These are extraordinary individuals who care about others."
$10,000 Make A Difference Day grant by Paul Newman and Newman's Own Foundation goes to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.