ROGERS — Sarah Cassady stood in the rubble of the Joplin, Mo., tornado two years ago this week unwrapping the bag lunch dropped off by Red Cross volunteers.
Cassady, a fifth-grade teacher at Bonnie Grimes Elementary School, had taken a couple days off to help friends sort through the rubble of their home. Her peanut butter sandwich was made by schoolchildren. When she pulled the note from the paper bag, Cassady was surprised to find it was signed by third-graders at Bonnie Grimes Elementary in Rogers.
“Oh, my gosh,” Cassady remembers saying, “These are my kids; this is my school.”
She sent photos back to the other teachers, Cassady standing in the rubble just blocks from the destroyed St. John’s Hospital holding bag lunches and sunny notes against a gray sky.
Wednesday, four classrooms of fifth-graders at the school made sandwiches and wrote notes for the people of Moore, Okla. Some of them remember making bags as third-graders.
Fifth-graders Garrett Prowell and Melanie Garcia said they were surprised when they found out one of the teachers at their school got a lunch made by classmates but were glad to do it again.
“We are very happy that we get to help people,” Melanie said.
Students decorated brown bags with hearts, smiles, rainbows and wrote “Be strong and smile” and “We will pray for you” on them.
Teachers bought bread, peanut butter, jelly, snack cakes and chips for the sack lunches.
Students learn compassion through helping others, said Reagan Duran, a parent who stayed to help after dropping off water bottles.
“I think it’s wonderful for them, teaching them, involving them in something like this,” Duran said.
Students brainstormed ideas for their notes during a writing period, Cassady said. Not every family at the school can donate a pallet of water or drive that far to help, but packing lunches showed students a way to care.
“It’s so sad that they’ve been hurt. It’s not fair,” said Luis Silva, a fifth-grader.
“My aunt lives in Oklahoma, so it’s really special to me,” said Jacinda Montgomery, also a fifth-grader.
Her aunt’s house was lost in the tornado, and her cousin had a narrow escape, but everyone is fine, Jacinda said.
Cassady’s parents lost their home during the 2001 tornado in Carl Junction, Mo., just north of Joplin. When the May 22, 2011, storm moved through Joplin, she knew the discouragement of sorting through ruined possessions for days on end.
“I gotta get up there,” she said she remembered thinking.
The homeowners she helped that week recently moved into their new home. They keep a bulletin board of encouraging notes and told Cassady the ones from the Grimes sack lunches are still on it.
She hopes the lunches students packed Wednesday brighten someone’s day.
“Out of all the stuff that got sent to Joplin, what were the odds that it got sent to me?” Cassady asked.