My name is Erin Vaughan Ware, I am 10 years old and go to East Broadway School. Over the summer while I was shopping for school supplies, I had an idea to donate my backpack to someone who might need it, and thought my friends might want to do the same.
I called my best friends Alanna Hallahan and Evagalia Roditis and they thought it was a great idea and wanted to help me. My mom suggested calling the school to see if we could use the cafeteria as a drop-off spot. Then I contacted Mrs. Thearle, who is a very kind teacher at East Broadway, and she got permission for us to use the cafeteria.
Next, I sent a letter to the Tribune to let people know about the backpack drive, and a nice man named John Theissan called and said he would like to help by taking the backpacks and distributing them to children in our area. That was so nice of him! I was also lucky because Legislator Dennis Dunne saw the article and came to visit with a photographer and his friend Joe Belesi. We collected about 60 backpacks all together! It was a great day!
Thank you very much to all of the generous, kind people who helped make a little idea a big success. Maybe we will do it again next year!
Erin Vaughan Ware
