Silverbrook Students Collect Supplies for Schoolhouse in Haiti

Fifth grade Silverbrook students recently collected three large suitcases worth of pencils, paper and other school supplies for a schoolhouse in Haiti.

“I wish we could have sent them more,” said Maggie Basse, 10.

A retired Fairfax County Public School teacher is delivering the supplies to the students this week. The teacher is going on a cruise which stops in Haiti and has a community partnership with the L'École L’Amitie school, said Debbie Crooks, a Silverbrook fifth grade teacher.

“The tuition for the school is only $10 a year,” Crooks said. “Our students really began understanding how lucky they are.”

In November, students collected the supplies as part of their annual community service project. Some classes also enclosed notes to the students.

“My letter was just telling them stuff we like to do. We wrote the first part in French, ‘dear Friend,’” Basse said. "I wrote that I like to play soccer and dance."

“It was a fun thing to do,” said Emily Friday, 11, another fifth grade student.

When it was time to prepare the supplies, students painted the outside of the suitcases with drawings of stars and hearts.