The 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is being commemorated this month. Across the nation, we are remembering the heroes, lost lives and tough lessons about disaster preparedness when the infamous storm devastated southern coastal communities.
At 5 p.m. on Aug. 27, 2005, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin started a voluntary evacuation of New Orleans metro-area residents. And at 6:10 a.m. on Aug. 29, Katrina made landfall as a Category 3 on the Gulf Coast.
Later, a levee was breached in the Lower Ninth Ward, and more breaks were reported in the Industrial Canal and 17th Street Canal. Water began pouring into eastern New Orleans, the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish. Thousands of people were trapped on rooftops and in attics. At 11 a.m. on Aug. 29, Katrina’s strongest winds reached 125 mph as the peak storm surge hit Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi.
![For close to two decades, students at Cypress Ridge and Astatula elementary schools made quilts as fundraiser prizes to raise money for books lost to Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters in schools around the countr. [SUBMITTED]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Mvv2ShpmcA85x1edqwDscg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTk0MTtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/daily-commercial/925910f79d2e02f88801e87156a92190)
For close to two decades, students at Cypress Ridge and Astatula elementary schools made quilts as fundraiser prizes to raise money for books lost to Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters in schools around the countr. [SUBMITTED]
Read more about the events that followed at USAToday.com
As the aftermath of Katrina unfolded, we saw the best in Americans, working to help others, as one of the worst natural disasters befell our nation.
Locally, teacher Star Olson of Cypress Ridge Elementary School already had been helping others from her classroom with then-Astatula Elementary School teacher Kellyann Goring, now retired after 23 years of teaching. At the time, the teachers raised funds by enlisting students to help create quilts that they later awarded as prizes for funds raised.
The teachers called their project “Quilts to Books.” Students learned about Florida landmarks, wildlife, history and geography, creating locally inspired art and inspiration in each design block.
When Hurricane Katrina happened, the teachers saw another opportunity to get involved.
Teachers Kellyann Goring, left, and Star Olson load a vehicle with books to take to Minnie Ruffin Elementary School in Monroe, Louisiana after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.
Olson knew this was one place where the students’ project could lead to significant help. Raising money for books could help replenish the classroom library in an area affected by the storm.
Throughout the 2005-06 school year, she guided their classes through a service-learning project. The goal: raise money to purchase new books for a teacher in Mississippi who had lost her classroom to Hurricane Katrina.
Today, Olson is still teaching fourth grade at Cypress Ridge Elementary. She also is the NEHS (National Elementary Honor Society) adviser.
“The Quilts to Books service project continued through 2023, with a two-year lapse during COVID-19,” Olson told the Daily Commercial. That included a 2016 return trip to Louisiana, chronicled by the News Star, which also is part of the USA TODAY Network.
“Our last book delivery was to Leo Kerner Elementary in Lafitte, Louisiana, to a teacher who lost 10 years of teaching resources (including books) to flooding from Hurricane Ida.”
Located in Livingston Parish, the school was one of the hardest-hit areas by the historic flood of August 2016, and Denham Springs Elementary was one of the schools most impacted, as reported in a FEMA press release earlier that year.
“I am still in contact with a few of the teachers we helped along the way, and they still teach their new students about Katrina and Quilts to Books,” Goring said.
In the fall of 2020, Goring was in northern Maine shortly after retiring and giving away her teaching supplies.
But she still had her books.
“I read about a fire that completely destroyed Dr. Levesque School in Frenchville,” she said. “I had hung on to my classroom library, knowing that at some point in time, I would find the right teacher to whom I could donate it. I was able to locate a third-grade teacher from the school in Maine who was excited to hear about my interest in donating my classroom library. I returned a month later to meet with the teacher and hand her my complete library for her classroom.”
The teacher told Goring that she intended to share the books with other third-grade teachers at the flood-ravaged school. The retired Lake County teacher also helped a teacher in El Paso, Texas with books.
In recent years, Olson has directed her efforts to other service learning projects with her students.
“I now channel my teaching of service to students through our NEHS group as we lead school, community and global projects at our school,” she said.
“We have collected food and then volunteered at a local food pantry, done campus and community clean-up, and raised funds for Water for South Sudan and the Malala Fund. We are always looking for opportunities and contacts to help schools and teachers affected by natural disasters.”
Storms and natural disasters continue to be a topic of discussion, too.
“In my classroom, we discuss Florida’s geography, track tropical storms in our area and discuss hurricane preparedness,” Olson said.
“I am able to share stories that I’ve heard and natural disaster sites I have visited through the Quilts to Books project.
“We have a collection of student writings, from a school affected by Katrina, given to me for my students to better understand the many effects of a natural disaster on the lives of students. As an educator, I feel like my job is much greater than teaching academics. I strive to teach empathy, leadership and service to others.”
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Lake educators’ quilting project offered lesson in giving during Katrina