World Red Cross Day May 8th 2000 photos Website Links 2002 - printable News Release

The Greater Houston Area Chapter (GHAC) of the American Red Cross is working with the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and Microsoft Corporation to help children in war and famine-stricken areas by putting together boxes of basic school supplies.
VIDEO ...(PHOTOS - 2001 Class Act)

A Class Act gives young people the opportunity to provide basic school supplies for needy children in disaster and other emergency areas both in the United States and abroad. Through the program basic school supplies for a class of 40 students are provided in a standard school chest or similar container.Filling the chest can be a rewarding project for a school, or a class.The program itself promotes global awareness among youth and leads to a greater understanding of social and economic issues.Those who give the chests learn about caring and providing service for others, while the youngsters who receive them benefit from the contents and learn of the thoughtfulness, interest and concern of others in far away places. Microsoft will give Spanish language teaching software to each participating school.

Touch the chest and fill
it with school supplies.

The Red Cross announces the 3rd Annual Kickoff to A Class Act on March 1st . The National Honor Society is participating with students helping in the planning and coordination of activities.

Teachers from The Rice School, working with the Greater Houston Area Red Cross, have developed Interdisciplinary Lesson Plans which are available electronically to teachers. Topics covered include geography, science, writing and computer applications to research the countries that are requesting the chests. Children can decorate the chests for an art project. The project, which creates global community awareness, can be integrated with the classes current curriculum, providing teachers with an opportunity to share lesson plans with their peers.

Schools wishing to participate in A Class Act are asked to collect supplies to fill a chest. Please email your school's name so your school can be recognized as participating in this outreach program. Local businesses have been contacted to help defray the expense of the school chests for schools that cannot easily afford them. Schools are also encouraged to contact their business partners for donations of supplies. Stores located near schools are more likely to be supportive if the principal asks. Schools already participating 2001. Schools that participated in 2000.

Filling the Chest Before packing the chest make sure that all your materials are new, clean, and of good quality and appearance.  Each chest should contain the following list of items for a class of 40 students:

1	Chest (storage trunk, foot locker (non-military, painted white) or sturdy cardboard box)
40	notebooks/notepads (lined 8.5 x 11 composition books/bound notebooks)
120	No. 2 pencils (unsharpened) with erasers
40	small pencil sharpeners
40	rulers (metric or metric/inch)
20	small compasses
6	boxes of colored chalk
4	blackboard erasers
4	packages of drawing paper (8.5 x 11)
40	boxes of 8 (crayons/colored pencils)
1	tape measure (metric)
1	soccer ball
20	Jump ropes

The Chest must be long enough to fit the required contents. It must be stackable and sturdy enough to withstand handling during shipment. The lid should open easily – make sure NOT to fasten it. You are encouraged to paint or affix a large red cross on a white background to the top of the chest. The cross should look like the one on this page.

Continental Airlines has agreed to help with some of the shipping involved.	TNT is supplying the shipping boxes this year

Shipping the Chest
The chests will be picked up by the Red Cross on (To Be Announced). Boxes completed after that time will NOT be picked up. They can however, be brought to the Houston Red Cross headquarters at 2700 Southwest Freeway during normal business hours. The boxes will be forwarded to American Red Cross national headquarters where they will be forwarded to their destination. GHAC will advise your school when and where the chest is shipped; but, due to changing emergency situations worldwide, the chests cannot be designated for specific countries or disasters.
The GOAL for A Class Act is 200 school chests.
If all schools participate, it will be the first time an effort of this scope has occurred in a major U. S. city.

World Red Cross Day
Schools have until the first of May to complete the school chests. The chests will be collected the last week of April and the first week of May. On May 8,World Red Cross Day the boxes will be displayed at the Red Cross Greater Houston area headquarters on the Southwest Freeway at Kirby Drive. Ceremonies there will include schools that participated in A Class Act, representatives of HISD, senior management from Microsoft and representatives of GHAC and its Board of Directors.
For information about the Red Cross role in this project please email momolina@ghac.org

Partners in Education

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This site is not maintained. It is kept for historical purposes only. Please visit the current Rice School website at http://es.houstonisd.org/rice
Questions and comments can be directed to Dana Gabrovsek : Webspinner dgabby@outreach.rice.edu Date Created: 9/18/99 Modified:5/2002	The Rice School/La Escuela Rice / HISD 7550 Seuss Dr. Houston, Texas 77025 Phone: (713) 349-1800 Fax: (713) 349-1828