THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 15, 1995 TAG: 9509140148
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
The cup of good will runneth over for the students and faculty of fire-damaged Princess Anne High School.
Help, in the form of cash, supplies, equipment, services and volunteers keeps rolling in, two weeks after a deliberately set fire swept through the main wing of the school, closing it indefinitely.
The volume and variety continue to astonish educators like Linda Champion, school-business partnership coordinator for the city schools.
``So far, across the community, it has been incredible,'' she said Wednesday, between phone calls from prospective donors, both private and corporate.
But Princess Anne students, faculty, members and parents haven't been idle in the quest to restore their burned out school.
Student-led car washes and a parent-sponsored fund so far have netted about $20,000, said accountant Doug Bowles, a school parent and a co-organizer and overseer of the Princess Anne High School Recovery Fund.
The money will be spent to help resupply teachers who lost materials in the Sept. 1 fire or student organizations and clubs that lost material, equipment or uniforms.
``The intent is not to underwrite the insurance deductible,'' he said. The school system policy requires a front-end payment of about $25,000 before the rest of its policy can kick in to cover fire damages. The dollar amount of those damages has yet to be set by city fire and school officials.
Other Virginia Beach schools have offered help in the form of supplies and equipment, but students and teachers in temporary classrooms are still working with the bare essentials, said Joyce Davis, president of the Princess Anne High Parent Teacher Association.
``There are still a lot of materials needed,'' she said. ``They're not available yet.''
Meanwhile, help is continuing to come from a variety of corporate sources, said Champion - from Tupperware to Farm Fresh.
For instance, Farmer Jack, a Newtown Road supermarket, has started a ``Princess Anne roundup,'' wherein customers are asked to round off grocery bills and donate the resulting change to the high school recovery fund.
On Wednesday alone, 33 percent of the store's customers agreed to contribute and store officials had tallied up about $100 for the school fund, Champion said.
Contel Cellular has donated free phones and air time to the high school administration. Once Upon A Time Children's Books, a Virginia Beach Boulevard store, has offered its discount book buying services to Princess Anne teachers. Kmart has offered financial aid, and Cox Fibernet, an affiliate of Cox Cable, has offered a two-way video hookup to the main high school campus and the temporary classrooms at Celebration Station, a former shopping mall.
A local church has offered Princess Anne High backers free space at its weekly flea market to help raise money for the recovery fund.
Alumni and parents of alumni have called Champion's office with offers of money, textbooks - even notes from classes once taken at Princess Anne High.
A supermarket that will open next month is offering part of its opening day proceeds to the school fund.
Champion is compiling a list of volunteers for all manner of school-related duties, from sweeping floors to shelving books. Private individuals are offering encyclopedias, history books, computer software and even new shirts for members of the Princess Anne golf team.
The Navy has come on board the aid brigade, said Champion. A submarine command and a local naval facility have offered the services of technicians to help the high school reconstruct its computer system.
Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake school districts also have offered assistance. by CNB