DEARBORN —Duvall Elementary School students showed their Thanksgiving spirit this season by collecting hundreds of gift-wrapped shoe boxes filled with goods over two months to give to students of a Detroit school in a very low-income area.

Duvall Principal Radewin Awada (L) with students Madelyn Hass, 10, Jordan Lessnau, 10, and Elise Knott, 9, in the truck that delivered 300 shoeboxes filled with gifts from the Dearborn students to a disadvantaged school in Detroit on Thursday. PHOTOS: Khalil AlHajal/TAAN

A Dearborn moving company delivered the gifts to Marcus Garvey Academy on Thursday afternoon.
Duvall Principal Radewin Awada said the the students filled 300 boxes with toys, games, garments and other small items in need like toothbrushes, donated by parents and local companies.

“We’ve had a very good response,” Awada said. “It’s just amazing.”

He said 4th grader Elise Knott started the effort at the suggestion of her aunt, Jennifer Giering, of the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce.

“It took off from there,” Awada said. “It took on a life of its own.”

Giering said she mentioned the idea to her niece about having each student bring in a box of goods, and Elise, 9, brought it to Awada, who ran with it.

“Elise coordinated all of the activities.” Giering said.

Elise said she brought in 10 boxes filled with beanie babies, hats and gloves.

“It makes me feel good,” she said.

The Parent-Teacher Association, Wal-Mart and a local Boy Scouts troop donated additional goods and time, and Corrigan moving company donated use of a truck for delivery.

Volunteers pose with Duvall Principal Radewin Awada (L,), Duvall students and Dearborn Chamber of Commerce President Jennifer Giering (R) before sending a truckload of gifts to students at Marcus Garvey Academy in Detroit on Thursday.

“There were children in need and I thought it was important for the kids to learn community service,” said Giering. “You don’t realize how much you have until you put soap and toothpaste in a box and know that the kids that get them are going to be happy.”
Giering became familiar with the severely disadvantaged but high-achieving Garvey Academy after touring the school as part of a leadership program of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“It really, really left a lasting impression,” she said.

Giering and Awada said 100 percent of Garvey Academy students rely on free or reduced lunch programs, and that Principal James Hearn even had to put a washer and dryer in the school to help families take care of student uniforms.

Despite that, they said, the academy has received awards for student achievement.

Hearn could not be reached for comment Thursday.

“So many people, I think, cast off these young kids who are born into that situation,” said Giering.

“It’s all about the giving concept,” said Awada. “It’s all about community. It was a great thing today.”