Meadows students raise $10,000

Jennifer Knight

Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2001 | 11:01 a.m.

Parents, waiting for their children, park neatly in front of Meadows School. It's a typical scene. Seemingly, nothing has changed since classes began weeks ago.

But the world has changed, a fact not lost on 20 of the school's students, who, on their own volition, have raised $10,000 to support search-and-rescue efforts in New York and Washington, D.C.

"It just makes people think that if this small group of people could raise $10,000, just think about what more people could do," said David Goodheart, a 15-year-old sophomore at the private school in Summerlin.

On Saturday and Sunday Meadows students went out into the community to solicit donations and distribute red ribbons in memory of those missing and killed as a result of the attacks Sept. 11.

"There were kids emptying their pockets of all their change," said Shannon McLaughlin, a 15-year-old sophomore who helped with the ribbon drive.

"It kind of made me realize what's important," said Traci Whickham, 15.

The money was donated to the American Red Cross.

Grassroots efforts to aid with the relief effort have become commonplace.

A group of students at Hinman Elementary School in Henderson donated proceeds from their annual bake sale, and students at Brinley Middle School in Las Vegas have begun a penny drive.

The generosity doesn't stop there, of course. The local chapter of the Red Cross has received about $3 million in donations the past four days alone, and hundreds more have donated their time, Heather Ramirez, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross of Southern Nevada, said.

Said McLauglin, "It's like now, (red, white and blue) are the best colors you ever want to see in your life."