Fostoria Focus
June 11, 2003

Field Third Graders Help Pave the Way for Veterans Memorial Chapel
By Leonard Skonecki

It all started with a class project to make change.

"We are studying goods and services and production such as in a factory with an assembly line. We put goodies like chips and pretzels and cheesy puffs in little bags," Mrs. Rutter told the Focus.

"We did that in an assembly line fashion and each group was a factory. I had a quality control person who made sure the bag was closed and that there was enough in it," she said.

Then they sold the bags to other students after school and that's where the students had to practice what they learned about math in order to make change.

How'd they do?

"They did really well," Rutter said.

Now that they had made some money, the question was what do we do with it?

The class decided to buy items to put in the gift boxes WFOB was sending to local service men and women in the Middle East in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"We had enough to buy three boxes with phone cards, candy and beef jerky, things like that."

So that was that ... or was it?

After we were all finished, a parent came to me and said, 'I'll buy some more supplies for you. Can you do it again?"

Samantha Hall's daughter had enjoyed the project so much she bought more supplies for the little bags - Fruit Roll-Ups, Twizzlers and pop. The Field Food Fundraising Emporium was back in business. They made a shade over $75.

But when Rutter took the second round of money to WFOB, she found the boxes had all been sent and the postage paid. Any money raised beyond that was going toward the Veterans Memorial Chapel.

So she consulted her students, "I came back and explained the situation. I asked, 'Would you like to donate the money to the veterans memorial?" she said.

"They said sure. I told them what it was, where it will be and what it is going to be sued for. I told them if they attend a funeral there, they would know they helped support that," she said.

The paver entered the picture when a friend of Rutter's, Jane Sayre, told her about them. Jane's husband, Arnie, is on the Veterans Chapel committee.

The kids liked the paver idea. Now they had to decide what their paver would say.

Here's what they came up with.

"Thank you veterans. Mrs. Rutter's third grade class 2002-2003."

"That's what they wanted to do. I explained what a veteran is and how a lot of them paid the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives," Rutter said. "So if they go out there to attend a funeral service, they can look for the paver."

The war struck close to home for some of the kids. One had a brother and another a cousin who went to Iraq. Others knew family friends who went over.

So it was quite a good project for the class.

They learned about math and how it helps you make change - a good thing to know.

They learned about producing goods for sale - a good thing to know.

And they learned about appreciation for those folks who have put on the uniform and made a sacrifice for our way of life - a very good thing to know.

Class Donation

Lisa Rutter's third grade class at Field Elementary donated just over $75 to the Veterans Memorial Chapel. The money, raised through a class project that dealt with selling snacks to other students at the school, will be used to buy a paver at the chapel.