Lovell Elementary steps up to help Colorado schools

[caption id="attachment_6823" align="aligncenter" width="486"] Natalie Hall (left) and Ashlee Pitt pose with the donations jar near the Lovell Elementary School office Tuesday. The two are leading a project to raise funds for schools damaged by flooding recently in Colorado.
David Peck photo[/caption]Lovell Elementary School is raising funds to help fellow elementary school students in Colorado who have been affected by recent torrential rains and flooding.Helping students in Lyons and/or Laporte, Colo., is the brainchild of third-grader Natalie Hall, who enlisted the help of her friend, Ashlee Pitt. Natalie’s mother, Sharon, has a good friend whose great-niece goes to school at Cache la Poudre Elementary School in Laporte, which was totally flooded by the heavy rains.Money raised by the elementary students could go to Cache la Poudre Elementary or to Lyons Elementary. Lyons was flooded by the storm, as well. Sharon said students from Lyons have been relocated for classes to the old Longmont High School, where her mother, Dolores Myers, attended school.Sharon Hall said she is still researching the issue and is looking at both elementary schools as recipients of the LES fundraising.Natalie Hall and Pitt took their fundraising idea to Principal Cheri Hoffman, and she gave it the thumbs up. A donations jar bearing a photo of the flooded Cache la Poudre School was set up next to the school office.“We wanted to help them because the kids got trapped in there (Cache la Poudre) and luckily they got free,” Pitt said. “We knew floods could destroy a lot of things.”Librarian Gwen Walker said this isn’t the first time Lovell Elementary has helped other schools and students. Last fall, for instance, LES helped raise funds for Monmouth Beach School in Monmouth Beach, N.J. following Hurricane Sandy.The current fundraising effort is slated to continue until Halloween.by David Peck