Water Damage Forces Three Classrooms to Close

 

Water damage has forced the closure of our Wesley Rankin location in West Dallas for the remainder of 2011. The Wesley-Rankin Community Center which housed our center suffered severe building damage due to a water pipe breakage during the extreme cold weather in Dallas two weeks ago.  Mi Escuelita's Wesley-Rankin location included offices and three classrooms for 55 preschoolers.

We are very heart broken about this tragedy. Continuing their education is very important for the children's preparation for kindergarten, so we have made every effort to move the students to one of our other five preschool locations. We feel strongly that each child should remain in school. Fortunately, we have room at our other centers to accommodate our students. Our Crossover and St. Matthew's locations have each added a classroom to their site and our Cockrell Hill location is gaining new students in existing classrooms as well.

While insurance will pay for a portion of the damages suffered, Mi Escuelita must raise $50,000 to replace classroom and office equipment, teaching supplies, and office and classroom furnishings. Unfortunately, because the school and community center were closed due to the snow and ice, the problem was only discovered by a passerby who noticed water pouring out of the building's front door. The pipes broke on the second floor, flooding our first-floor classrooms from the top down, which caused damage in addition to the standing water. Books were ruined, all the charts and pictures on the wall were damaged, cabinets and puzzles left in water became warped. One of the worst losses was our teachers' curriculum books, filled with notes, ideas, examples and resources gathered over the years. 

How you can help:

• Donate school supplies or organize a donations drive at your workplace or school. We need to replace school supplies in all three of those classrooms. 
• Needed items: paper goods (toilet paper, paper towels, dixie cups, kleenex), copy paper, construction paper, manila paper, craft materials like pipe cleaners, googly eyes, crayons, markers, spiral notebooks, tempera paint
• For more information on needs, contact Caroline Smiley at csmiley@miescuelita.org
• Share this story by linking to this blog post or connecting with us via facebook or twitter. The more people that know, the more that can help.
• Stay connected with us, as we have new needs come up, we will be sure to share with the Mi Escuelita community.  

Pictures of the Wesley Rankin water damage can be seen on our Picasa site.