A local mother and son joined together Sunday evening to help children affected by Hurricane Harvey in Texas.
Balloons and signs pointed those eager to do their part in the direction of a big parking lot in front of Emily’s Thrift Store in Dennison.
Seated under a tent on a picnic table, surrounded by boxes, were Elaine Zurcher and her 10-year-old son Kohlton Calvey.
When asked why he decided to organize a drive for the students in Texas Kohlton gave a simple answer, “Other kids are in need of school supplies and I wanted them to go back to school and have school supplies.”
Kohlton and his mom worked with Claymont Intermediate School to collect school supplies over the last two weeks.
Newsymom.com and WTUZ Radio also set up additional collection sites.
On Sunday, Elaine and Kohlton sat in the parking lot for three hours collecting even more school supplies from the community.
Elaine explained her pride in witnessing how caring and kind her son is, “I’m very proud of him. It’s amazing. Because, most kids aren’t thinking about collecting to help somebody, they’re thinking about ‘I want to go out and ride my bike or play X-Box.’”
But, Elaine said…not her son, “Kohlton was, in the bottom of his heart, thinking these kids are going to go back to school and have nothing because their schools are gone.”
As if seeing such a young person already thinking about how he can help others isn’t inspiring enough, Elaine worked to help Kohlton’s idea become reality all while fighting her own battle.
“I have breast cancer,” she said.
When asked how she can find the strength to still help others she explained, “My kids. Kohlton. Because, he’s very selfless and he inspires me to keep going.”
But, Kohlton explained that his mom does some inspiring of her own, “She’s awesome and she’s a good mom.”
Several boxes were filled to the top with a variety of school supplies such as binders, backpacks, paper, pens, crayons, pencils and more.
The Uhrichsville Police Department has committed to getting the donations collected to Houston, Texas to help kids in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
Michaela Madison Reporting
