The generosity of the wonderful Johns Hopkins Pathology staff once again shone through in our latest community charity event to provide elementary school teachers with supplies that are needed throughout the school year.
Baltimore City school teachers must often spend their own money to supply their students and classrooms with needed instruction materials.
Our efforts focused on City Springs Elementary School, a local school in the Hopkins neighborhood. We were given a “Wish List” from the teachers with items needed. The time frame for donations was September 27-October 3, 2017. Carrie Holdren-Serrell in Microbiology led the effort, and she constructed a chart that listed all the donated items and the percentage of goal reached.
We were overwhelmed with donations from every division, including cash donations. A grand total of 1,059 items, plus $260.00 in cash, was collected. The cash was used to purchase large, more costly items, including a laminator and pouches, history books, white boards, posters, and large bulletin boards. The driver from City Springs, Mr. Ruffin, was astounded — we could barely fit all the items into his car!
These children and their teachers are in need of so much, yet they had a fundraiser on their own to raise funds for hurricane disaster relief. This was recently featured in the Sun and received national recognition.
We hope to make this an annual event, helping a different city school each year, and to start in August next time to catch the back-to-school sales.
Many, many thanks to all who contributed! The principal and teachers told us that they are beyond grateful!
Paula C. Mister, MS, MT, SM(ASCP)CM
Educational Coordinator, Clinical Microbiology
Johns Hopkins Hospital