🙌✨❤️ The Owen District marked the one-year observance of Hurricane Helene with a districtwide Day of Service, inspired by W.D. Williams Elementary Principal Christy Jones.
Each school found ways to “give back and pay it forward.” Black Mountain Primary and Black Mountain Elementary schools hosted a thank-you lunch for police and firefighters, complete with banners, books, and “community helper” outfits. First graders held a canned food drive for Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry, while second and third graders created “Cards of Joy” for the nonprofit Crayons Matter to include in future disaster relief supply bags.
“During the hurricane, all the community helpers really poured into our school as a command center, and we want to teach our children how important it is to give back and pay it forward,” said Black Mountain Primary Principal Kelly Owen.
W.D. Williams Elementary students created and presented handmade challenge coins to first responders, recorded songs of thanks, made banners, wrote cards, and sang at local nursing homes.
As W.D. kindergarteners gathered to give challenge coins to the police and firefighters, they also presented a poem that read in part “We made you this coin with appreciation and cheer. Thank you, dear heroes, for taking away our fears. Love, W.D. Williams.”
Owen Middle students designed “horseshoes of gratitude” and signed banners for the many schools that had supported them in Helene’s aftermath, while Owen High students organized a food drive for the Appalachian Resource Center and wrote letters of support to students in Kerr County, Texas.
“I’m so proud of the service happening across our district and grateful to Christy for sparking the idea of making this time about giving back,” said Owen High Principal Dawn Rookey.