Surrounded by her classmates and, from left (back) Debbie Nantel, teacher assistant, Sally Faulkner, student intern, and teacher Joyce Dyer, first-grader Tate Sutton shares the contents of one of their food boxes with Paula Lumb, director of United Christian Ministries. - Herald photo by Rose Hooper
First-grader Tate Sutton couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. "Why were all the adults 'ohhing and ahhing' and why were so many people taking her picture?" young Sutton, who is not used to such fanfare, wondered. After all, she was just working on a project. That project was the culmination of a dream... a dream that came to her one day when she and a classmate were looking at houses. Some of the homes didn't look as nice as hers. Sutton asked her teacher, Joyce Dyer, why that was. Dyer explained that some families had more money to spend on their homes than did other families. "Well, let's make all the homes nice," said Sutton, who asked if she could raise money for those "who don't have things like we do." Her principal, Sue Nations, liked the idea, but since policy didn't allow collecting money at school, Nations suggested collecting food instead. As part of a church project, Sutton had helped her parents, Tommy and Sally Sutton, collect canned goods for United Christian Ministries. So she understood that concept. Young Sutton shared her plan with Dyer's student intern, Sally Faulkner. "Tate told me about the specific plans she had," Faulkner said. "Then the very next day she showed me a contract of service she made for each parent to sign and return. Tate wanted to hold them accountable for the well being of others." Tate's project officially began on the 100th day of school, Jan. 23. Her goal was to collect 100 cans of food. Tate wrote the letter home to parents and asked that they return a signed contract, stating they were willing to help and what they would bring. "As each student brought their signed form back in, Tate was so excited. She thanked each student and kept a daily record of the responses," Dyer said. "All of the students contributed to Tate's dream. They were so excited to tell Tate when somebody walked in the classroom with a bag of food." By Feb. 18, Tate's deadline, students had helped her exceed the 100-can goal. They had collected 138 articles of food! "Tate was estatic! You should have seen her sorting it all out," Dyer said. "She put all the cereals together and all the bags of dried beans, then organized the canned fruits and vegetables. It was a wonderful math exercise for her." Faulkner was equally impressed with Tate's efforts. "Tate felt very strongly about making life better for others and was lifted up by seeing the whole class so involved. This was a real learning lesson in empowering children." Tate and all her classmates celebrated the "coming true" of her dream Feb. 19. They packed all the students and boxes of food onto an activity bus and headed to McDonald's for a party with Paula Lumb, director of United Christian Ministries. That's when all the accolades and flashing camera bulbs surprised Sutton. "I just want other people to have things like we have," Tate said matter-of-factly as she handed one of the food boxes to Lumb. |