Bridgeport High School students and staff will be hitting city streets on Sunday and they’ll be going door to door asking the community for assistance. And the assistance is for schools that were recently leveled by flooding in parts of southern West Virginia.

 

Bridgeport High School Principal Mark DeFazio said that Sunday between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. dozens of students from various school organizations will be knocking on doors soliciting cash donations. DeFazio said the money that is collected will be going to assist teachers as they try to get ready for the upcoming school year in what will likely be very difficult circumstances.

 

“We hope to make a difference with our students going through the community where we hope enough cash will be donated to make a difference, and we think that will happen,” said DeFazio. “Whatever we collect, we plan on presenting to principals of, more than likely, a high school or two to help out.”

 

DeFazio said he wasn’t sure what school would receive the funds, but said the initial thought is to present the funds to the administration at Richwood High School, or perhaps Herbert Hoover.

 

“Those schools are pretty much gone so we know teachers, who’ll be in new settings, are going to need things. We have a teacher with ties to Richwood so that may be where we go, but again, a lot depends on how much we’re able to collect,” said DeFazio.

 

DeFazio said it will be up to the teachers that are given the money to decide what to purchase. He said that items such as paper, pencils, pens, paper clips, staplers and so many other items that are in every classroom are gone and this could help on that front or even more.

 

“There’s a lot more in a classroom than just books and we know teachers need help and we hope to provide that with our students. We’re very happy to see our students taking this up,” said DeFazio.

 

The BHS Student Council, Key Club and DECA are among the groups currently involved. DeFazio said a meeting with the students Sunday had nearly 40 kids in attendance and he asked each student to recruit three or four others to assist.

 

“We want to cover as much of Bridgeport and our feeder area as we can,” said DeFazio. “We’re going to assign areas to groups of students so we don’t have kids knocking on doors more than once. That can be annoying.”

 

DeFazio said teachers will be involved as well as other staff members. He also wanted to let the community know that the solicitations are legitimate. DeFazio also wanted to thank Domino’s Pizza. He said the business is donating pizza to feed the students after the collection.