First graders help victims

By Sarah M. Corigliano

Assistant Managing Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW First graders at Meadow Brook School in East Longmeadow recently worked together to help families affected by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami in Indonesia.

By signing on sponsors to support their independent reading project (sponsors promised a certain amount per book read), the children were able to raise enough money $3,750 to send 15 water buffalo to families in Indonesia.

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"We were hoping each class would be able to buy one [water buffalo], but we almost doubled that goal," explained Alison Johnson, first grade teacher and organizer for the project at Meadow Brook.

She said she learned about the Heifer Project when her sister adopted a child from China. Johnson said she wanted to contribute something as a thank you gift to the region and she found The Heifer Project online. There, she was able to learn about the role geese play in every day life in China, and she paid for a flock of geese to be sent there.

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The children in Johnson's class, whose young age prevented them from learning many details about the tsunami, learned a great deal about the region it affected and about the water buffallo itself.

"It's part of the Social Studies curriculum to learn about needs, wants, selling things and how money is earned," Johnson explained.

The children learned that the water buffallo can help families sustain themselves by providing milk, by helping to plow fields, and by providing income if they or their offspring are sold. For more infromation about the Heifer Project, go to www.heifer.org.