Monday's Internet Edition, May 12, 2008.
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“After the tsunami, there was a large outpouring of concern from the schools,” said Dr. Daniel Cockman, superintendent of Thomasville City Schools. “A lot of the schools and organizations did some fundraising that was supplied to tsunami victims through Red Cross and other large aid organizations. We also had some discussion about how it would be nice if we could localize that with some of our efforts going forward from there.”
Phyllis Stump, safe and drug-free school coordinator for Thomasville City Schools, was in on those discussions. She had a contact with a missionary in Thailand through First Baptist Church, where she attends. The name of the missionary is confidential.
“We keep the names of people there under wraps because they are working in an area that is primarily Muslim,” Stump explained. “They are not out in the open. People know who they are.”
And the people at First Baptist figured after the tsunami that their friends in Thailand were in trouble.
“I emailed my contact and asked him if he knew of any needs in that area,” Stump recalled. “He immediately sent back a message telling me that he had been asked by the Thai government to specifically work with this village and to supervise the rebuilding of the school.”
This village, not far from Phuket, which was the area hit hardest by the tsunami, had a population of about 150. All of its fishing boats were destroyed and fishing is the main source of industry in this village. Its school was also destroyed.
When word got out about the plight of that Thai school, the staff members at Thomasville City Schools agreed that its rebuilding was a good cause for them to support.
“We had to figure out a way to channel these funds,” Stump said. “We couldn’t take the money through Thomasville City Schools because that’s a public entity. So CIS (Communication in Schools) agreed to let us channel the money through their organization, which is a nonprofit.”
The reaction from the schools was encouraging to Cockman and Stump. By the end of the 2004-05 school year, $3,500 had been raised.
“I was really pleased with the amount of money they came up with in nickels, dimes and pennies,” Cockman said. “I think it’s a refection of our community that so many children were willing to be generous with the limited amount of funds they had available to help other children in need.”
“All of the schools did something, but Thomasville High School had a really big push,” Stump said. “A lot of teachers and administrators made donations as well. I know it wasn’t enough to completely rebuild the school, but I’m sure our donation went a long way in making some of the supplies available.”
The grateful, albeit unidentified missionary recently e-mailed photographs of the rebuilt school to Stump. One of the photos shows a sign commemorating the Thomasville City School system for its contribution to the rebuilding effort.
“We’re going to try to do one more fundraiser before the end of the school year — just a one-day, one-time donation to help them buy some supplies for the school,” Stump said.
Stump appreciates the generosity displayed by the students and considers this project to be an important part of their education.
“We’re trying to promote character education among our children,” she said. “They need to give back — even if it’s to people they don’t know. There’s a need in the world that they can help to meet.”
Staff Writer Kevin Reid can be reached at 472-9500 ext. 230 or at reid@tvilletimes.com.