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Symmes Says Thank You In Memory Of Sept. 11

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By LIZ BLEAU, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 15, 2007

Updated: 09/13/2007 06:13 pm

RIVERVIEW - Boxes trimmed in red, white and blue lined the corridor of Symmes Elementary School last week while parents and students worked to fill them with goodies and top them with finishing touches of patriotic ribbon bows.

The boxes were delivered by parents, students and faculty to first responders and community service workers throughout the area in commemoration of Sept. 11. Firehouses, hospitals, sheriff's offices and the area weather service station were among those receiving the gifts.

The boxes were decorated by the students, who completed each one with handwritten cards and pictures thanking the recipients for their service to the community.

'Dear Firemen, we need your help. You are a big help. I like your dog. And your silver pole,' read a note by a student named Boyce, whose card was embellished with a drawing of the firehouse pole and a spotted Dalmatian.

The Sept. 11 boxes have become a tradition at Symmes, where students have been making them for six years.

Symmes Principal Sue Marohnic was the impetus for the project on the first anniversary of Sept. 11.

'As a school, we wanted to do something in a positive way,' she said, 'To show appreciation to the first responders who are always there for us.'

The idea for the boxes was born, and it continues with the help of volunteers, she said.

The McKinnon family participates in the project on a number of levels. Larry and Loyda McKinnon helped to pack and deliver the boxes. Their daughter, Lauren McKinnon, 8, also helped pack the boxes and was one of the students who wrote cards for the first responders. Larry McKinnon also was a recipient of a box as a Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy at the District 2 office.

Lauren McKinnon said she wrote on her card to her dad and his co-workers to thank them 'for all the work you all do saving people in this crazy world.'

Deputy McKinnon said the boxes allow the children to remember Sept. 11 'and to continue to keep the victims in their thoughts and prayers.'

McKinnon said the gifts are well received by his fellow workers.

'There's only one thing we like better than fresh doughnuts, and that's a thank you from the community,' he said. 'We deal with mostly bad people, so when we sit and look at all these cards from the kids, it really means something because you know it comes from their hearts.'

Kimberly Vera, 10, a fifth-grader at Symmes, said she wrote a thank-you card to school security workers.

'I told them thank you for all the background checks they do and plans they have ready. It makes me feel secure,' she said.

Parent Gaylene Stephens, who owns a gift basket business, lent her expertise in packaging the boxes with cellophane and ribbons.

She got involved in the project, she said, because her son Charlie, 9, 'told me I had to do this, that it was important.'

The 50 boxes are filled with cookies, drinks and snacks, much of it donated.

Parent volunteer Judy Jordan said she is touched by the number of students who have been affected by Sept. 11.

'And we also have quite a few children with parents in the military, and we wanted to give them all an outlet for their feelings, in a positive way,' she said.

Reporter Liz Bleau can be reached at (813) 865-1557 or lbleau@tampatrib.com.

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