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North Elementary School raises $3,350 for Puerto Rico hurricane victims

Fifth-graders at North Elementary School in Crystal Lake have raised $3,350 to help hurricane victims who attend Guamani Public School in Guayama, Puerto Rico.

The school's hurricane fundraiser was started by Mandi Kane, Crystal Lake District 47 bilingual interventionist who worked at Guamani school for two years teaching fifth and sixth grade.

Kane wanted to do something to help Hurricane Maria victims after seeing a former colleague's photo in a news story about the disaster.

"When I started this, I was expecting to get only a handful of kids involved," she said. "It's been humbling to see how much students connected to it."

The North student-led fundraiser spanned a period of three weeks and involved fifth-graders from Jennifer Biamonte's and Hannah Harrold's classes.

The students stayed indoors at recess to accomplish various tasks, including collecting and washing milk jugs which were placed in classrooms to collect donated change, creating presentations and a video to promote the fundraiser, and counting donated change every Friday.

In total, the school raised $2,350. An anonymous donor and grandmother of one of the students contributed an additional $1,000.

"This felt really good," said fifth-grader Sofia Gonzalez. "We kept raising more money that we expected, which helped more people to have more."

"I was happy and excited to help the school and Puerto Rico," said fifth-grader Angelica Hernandez. "They really need it."

Guamani Public School serves students in kindergarten through 12th grade and is located approximately 44 miles south of San Juan.

The school has been without electricity since the hurricane and it recently purchased two generators at $75,000 each to get things back up and running using split shifts.

According to Kane, some parts of the city still don't have power, including the neighborhood that the school's principal, Aileen Rodriguez, lives in.

"Our hearts and gratitude go out to all the students of North Elementary for their kindness and effort to raise money for our school," Rodriguez said. "It is amazing what you are doing. We have a positive attitude and are looking to the future with optimism.

"You are helping GPS to stand on its feet again. The Home of the Mighty Tainos is your home, too. We will never forget what you are doing. Thank you, North Elementary!"

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