Teaching supplies in both kindergarten classrooms were destroyed by the June 1 tornado.
Munger Hill Elementary School kindergarten teachers Mary L. Yvon, foreground, and Kathleen M. Farris sort through donated items Tuesday at the Westfield school.WESTFIELD – Munger Hill Elementary School kindergarten teachers Mary L. Yvon and Kathleen M. Farris are overwhelmed by public generosity that, since June 1, has virtually restored all their teaching tools needed to welcome their new pupils next month.
“Just unbelievable,” said Yvon of the outpouring. “Lots of people are reaching out to us in a time of need. This is a huge blessing,” added Farris.
Donations ranged from a envelope full of proceeds from a first-grader’s lemonade stand to an ongoing book drive at the Westerly, R.I., Public Library, the “tens of thousands of dollars worth of supplies and materials are being restored,” Farris said.
“With everything coming in, I just feel so fortunate,” said Yvon. “Because of the way people and businesses have, and are, donating, and the spirit in which it was given, would restore anyone’s faith in humanity.”
Yvon and Farris’ classrooms were all but destroyed at 4:18 p.m. June 1, when a tornado struck Westfield on its way to West Springfield, Springfield, Wilbraham, Monson, Brimfield, Sturbridge and Southbridge.
Most teaching supplies and materials were blown around the school and soaked with rain from a gaping 20-foot hole in the school’s roof.
Yvon and Farris said all materials were destroyed, including a book entitled “The Monkey and the Alligator” that Yvon has read to her kindergarten students for more than 30 years.
Donations have come from Westfield businesses and organizations such as Staples Inc., WalMart, the Munger Hill Parent-Teachers Organization, Lucky Nails and Amelia Park.
They have also come from such faraway places as Hingham High School, Wilwood School, Mass Child, Manchester High School and Asylum Hill Choice in Hartford, people and organizations in Albany, N.Y., and Scholastic Weekly Reader.
Westfield Kiwanis promised a donation this week.
Many items received are slightly used, but most are brand new, the teachers said.
“Many of the donations, regardless of individual or business, are the result of friends knowing people and those people helping without even being asked,”said Farris.
Materials and supplies range from pencils and markers, blocks and games, to folders and index cards.
School Department Operations Director Frank B. Maher Jr. signed $40,000 in contracts last week that will lead to repairs to the roof, classrooms including carpeting, exterior and interior lighting and a new flag pole for Munger Hill School.
Westfield’s public schools open for the 2011-2012 school year on Aug. 29, but kindergarten pupils begin their full schedule on Sept. 6.
Yvon and Farris, along with kindergarten teacher Amy Wagner, will each welcome 20 new pupils.
