May 15, 2003
For those of you who are new to the one dollar challenge, here is what it is about.
In April, 2003, Our team of teachers took 120 eighth graders and parent chaperones to Hyde Park, New York, on a field trip. The day was to include stops at the President Franklin D. Roosevelt's home and Vanderbilt Mansion (both run by the US Park Service), and the the FDR Presidential Library (administered by the National Archives and Records Administration). In addition, we were to tour the Culinary Institute of America and have an exquisite dining experience as an extension to our 8th Grade Career Day.
Half of our students lost their opportunity to go on the leg of the journey which included the Vanderbilt Mansion (arguably the best part of the trip according to some 8th graders and chaperones) due to the gates of the CIA closing just as our busses were preparing to leave. In short order we found student and teacher chefs alike surrounding our parked busses with attention being given to a ceremony happening about 20 yards outside our bus windows.
We could not hear the event unless you were standing outside the bus, but from where we sat up high, we could quickly figure out that the event was a solemn one. I was told only that this was a tribute to fallen alumni of the CIA who died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Students who were aware of the significance of the event paid attention with an intense focus. Our bus was silent, and perhaps a little choked up. One parent chaperone said that there wasn't a dry eye there. (That may have been an exaggeration!)
As a teacher, I could not let such an event go unnoticed, so the night we returned home, I researched the event and discovered that the family we witnessed was one that was devastated by the terrorist attacks. And the baby we saw - little Michael O'Leary - no longer had a daddy. When I shared this information the next day with my students, we decided that we could make a difference in the life of one little boy. And this is how the $1 challenge started. I took out a dollar, and asked those who were moved to do so, to meet my challenge.
"$1 won't break the bank," I said to my class, "and we can probably all find one somewhere." "It's not much, but it is symbolic of our caring for someone who has lost so much."
Many students contributed. And some contributed 5 times. And other contributed 20 times! It was wonderful. After 2 weeks of collecting voluntary donations, we raised $107 dollars on a team with 100 students and four core teachers.
Our FMS Student Council has generously offered to add the money needed to raise our total to $250, so that we can purchase a $500 savings bond for Michael O'Leary.
If you would also like to contribute to the O'Leary family, you make a donation to the following memorial fund:
Gerald Thomas
O'Leary Memorial Fund
PMB #966
222 Route 9W
Haverstraw, NY 10927
More information can be obtained at this website: http://www.ciachef.edu/alumni/memorial_jay.html
The history of our fundraiser can be seen by clicking here.