Boxes of donated school supplies arrived in Mississippi earlier this month just in time for the last of the schools hit by Hurricane Katrina to reopen. The packages, most of which were donated by staff at AFT headquarters, provided members of the Mississippi AFT with supplies ranging from glue sticks to globes to textbooks.

AFT regional director Al Squire and Jackson, Miss., local leader Bergie Jones unload school supplies donated by AFT staff. (Photo by David Purdy)

Mississippi AFT (MAFT) president Greg Kelly estimates that nearly 1,000 members in Mississippi, including teachers, staff and school-related personnel, have been directly affected by Hurricane Katrina. About 600 members live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and many have lost their homes and community schools.

The union established the Mississippi Gulf Coast School Supplies Project to help equip schools resuming classes after the hurricane. The first trucks arrived at MAFT headquarters in Gulfport, Miss., on Nov.5 and local leaders distributed the supplies.

Much of the donated materials went to the AFT affiliate in Pass Christian, Miss., one of the hardest hit areas of the state. Three of the four schools in Pass Christian were destroyed by the hurricane. Although schools reopened on Oct. 11, the school district was forced to consolidate all of the schools on one campus and classes are being conducted in portable buildings. To help Pass Christian members, AFT staffers donated the materials they needed, from basic items such as office supplies and furniture to more specific classroom necessities such as calculators, world globes and maps, and electronic pencil sharpeners.

Another devastated district, Bay St. Louis, Miss., also received school supplies through the AFT project. Classes resumed in Bay St. Louis on Nov. 7.

"Mississippi AFT members have expressed deep gratitude for the AFT staff's collective hard work in helping them get back on their feet," says Connie Cordovilla, an associate director in the AFT's human rights and community relation's division and coordinator of the school supplies project.