THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509080222
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Focus: on the Street
SOURCE: Bill Reed
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
The dirt bag or dirt bags responsible for the fire that gutted Princess Anne High School early on Sept. 1 have succeeded in disrupting the lives of thousands of people.
Not just the 2,000 students who go there or the 200-plus teachers, aides and support personnel assigned there.
We're talking parents here. We're talking brothers, sisters, school service personnel and administrators who have been working round-the-clock since that Friday fire to bring order out of chaos.
We're also talking about city taxpayers, who will have to dig deeper in their wallets for more hard-earned bucks to undo the damage done by the blaze.
What the dirt bags did not do was extinguish the fighting spirit of all those connected with P.A.
They have charged into action like Marines at Iwo Jima to get the school back in action, whether it is on the main campus or at the temporary digs at Celebration Station. This is a one-time shopping center that has been leased by the school system to house several educational programs and school offices.
``We're going to come back,'' said determined school principal Pat Griffin on Wednesday, amid the bustle and din of her makeshift office, which is located in a portable classroom on campus.
While teachers, office staff and administrators struggle to gather material, supplies and equipment for the opening of classes Tuesday, Princess Anne students have been doing their bit to help as well.
Since Monday, they have been washing cars at two street corner service stations to raise funds for the recovery of their high school. And those who weren't scrubbing cars and trucks were hustling ``recovery'' money from motorists stopped at intersections like the one at Virginia Beach Boulevard and Constitution Drive.
Word is they had collected $12,000 as of Thursday afternoon and are still going strong. Big business execs would do well to keep an eye on youngsters such as these. Some day they'll be a force to be reckoned with by America's main economic competitors like Japan, Germany and South Korea.
Meanwhile, the plight of Princess Anne has touched a spirit of a different sort in the rest of South Hampton Roads.
Call it charitable, call it philanthropic, call it whatever you want, but that feeling - that good old American urge to help the afflicted and the down-trodden - has spread to surprising lengths.
For instance, the staff at Ocean Lakes High School sent $500 - that otherwise would have gone to a catered lunch - to the Princess Anne recovery fund. Schools such as Hermitage Elementary bundled office and classroom supplies - such as pens, staples, bulletin board paper, ink markers and such - and sent the package to the P.A. faculty. The Norfolk law firm of Breit Drescher & Breit kicked in for office supplies for the burned-out school.
There are literally ``hundreds of other donors,'' said Joe Lowenthal, spokesman for city schools. ``There are folks like Kmart, Farm Fresh - people are even dropping off $100 bills. There are in-kind contributions, promises of work, paint, lunches, food - promises of assistance of all kinds.''
Even the public school systems in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake have offered help in the form of equipment, supplies, expertise - whatever - to help P.A. get back on its feet.
The burgeoning effort brings to mind a defining moment in Frank Capra's movie, ``It's a Wonderful Life.'' In that scene, the whole town has gathered with money and moral support for a down-and-out banker, played by Jimmy Stewart.
At a crucial point, his brother steps forward from the crowd with a toast. ``Here's to George Bailey,'' he says,``the richest man in town.''
The same could be said of the folks at Princess Anne High. by CNB