Published Tuesday, March 25, 2008 1:52 PM
Updated Tuesday, March 25, 2008 1:52 PM

 

Help Us, Help Them

This year, the Fort Dorchester yearbook staff is attempting again to launch a program aimed at providing a yearbook to deserving students.

The staff contacted its faculty members asking them to identify worthy students who deserve to have a yearbook but simply cannot afford one.  This is not a general aid program, but rather one designed to put yearbooks in the hands of good kids caught in a difficult situation.

This is a program the staff attempted to launch last year, but the idea came too late in the year and the staff was unable to implement it..  This year, there is time to be successful.

James Roller, yearbook staff adviser, said, "The response to our original request was touching, and I wish we had been able to help out some of the students, but we just started too late."  Here is the very first response the staff received to its request:

"If you can't give a yearbook to (name omitted) out of your "needy student" fund, I will probably buy her one myself.

Last spring, (name omitted) moved out of her parents' home.  She moved in with a friend and stayed there for a few months, but then realized she really needed her own space.  Some relatives arranged, long-distance, for her to have an apartment and her teachers helped her furnish it with things we found in our garages.  During her entire senior year, she lived on her own, in her apartment, with no means of transportation, no medical insurance, and, rarely, groceries (only when her teachers pooled together money to get them for her from time to time.)  She has had few of the advantages that most kids have their senior years.  She was accepted to Converse College and has just about enough scholarship and loan to cover her expenses, but for this poor kid, it's just one thing after another.  Most other kids in her position would have just given up on school, found a job, and managed to survive badly.  However, she chose to stay in school and has managed to do so despite some very negative circumstances.

This was just one of many such stories.

"We could, of course, turn our back on such students, but we thought there might be a better option.  So, we have decided to reach out for help from local businesses or community members who we think might be in a position to offer a bit of happiness to those in need," Mr. Roller said.

Yearbooks currently cost $70.  However, the yearbook staff is willing to sell the books at a reduced price to businesses or individuals interested in donating them to the students the faculty has identified. The cost per donation would only be $40.

In addition to a reduced price, at your request, the staff will add a sticker inside the front cover of the book indicating the book was compliments of you or your business. Finally, they will publish information about your generosity on their website (unless you would prefer to remain anonymous), including linking to your site.

"If this is a project you would like to help us with or know someone who would be willing to assist, please contact us,"  Mr. Roller said.  "The year is quickly closing and we would like to help those we can before it is over."

Mr. Roller can be reached by phone at 760-4450, ext. 263, or by email at fdhsyearbook@mac.com.  Contact information is also available on the yearbook website at fdhsyearbook.com.

Thanks,

James A. Roller

FDHS Yearbook

fdhsyearbook@mac.com