Tsunami fund-raising efforts surpass 9-year-olds' expectations

Emmy Heller, 9, had a secret to keep most of the day Monday, and keep it she did.

As the fourth-grader headed to music class Monday morning, her mother, Lynne, whispered a number in her ear: The amount of money raised through Emmy's efforts at Fritsch Elementary School for tsunami victims.

"I really wanted to tell some people," Emmy said Monday evening after the total was out. "I wanted to tell my classmates."

Before school ended Monday afternoon, Fritsch Elementary School principal David Aalbers announced the total and how much each class raised.

"Wow, it was just amazing," said Fritsch Elementary School office manager Laurie Wyke. "We thought it was going to be something like $400 and it was $1,655."

Emmy was ecstatic.

"I was really surprised when I heard that it was more than a thousand dollars," she said. "I was surprised that we had made a thousand and I was pretty excited. That will help a lot."

To help in the fund-raiser, students brought change from home all of last week. Some even came with the house change jar. Each day after school, Emmy and Lynne collected the containers from classrooms and dumped them into a class jug in the gymnasium.

Laura Valley, Fritsch's physical education teacher, spends time with her students there.

"I heard lots of mention of the collection throughout the week," Valley said. "The jugs were on the stage and the kids would go up and look at them all the time and see how full they were.

"When somebody put in a $20, we talked about how many pennies that was. We talked about it every class. They were very excited."

The fourth-grade classes at Fritsch raised the most money for the tsunami relief effort and received punching balloons Monday for their efforts. Emmy's parents paid for those treats separately. They did not come from fund-raised money.

Diana Easby, a fourth-grade teacher at the school, applauded Emmy's fund-raising efforts.

"We were really pleased to see one of the kids in fourth-grade pick something up and go with it and do something about it," she said.

Teachers showed students the areas where the tsunami hit, she said.

"We talked about what life must be like for the kids there and for the families and for the kids without families."

A check will be sent to UNICEF this week.

n Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.

Fritsch Elementary School Tsunami Fund-Raising Effort:

Kindergartners through fifth-graders raised a total of $1,455 during a week's fund-raising. Many parents visiting the school during for an evening ice cream social dropped bills into the tubs in the gymnasium.

Totals for each grade level are:

Kindergarten: $246.09

First grade: $337.60

Second grade: $129.44

Third grade: $420

Fourth-grade: $442.65

Fifth grade: $80.13

Quick Fact:

Emmy pulled out all the dollar bills from the tubs this past weekend. Piñon Plaza Resort counted the tubs of change free of charge Monday morning for the Hellers.