Seabee to Seabee
May 16th, 2008, 7:37 pm · Post a Comment · posted by rpapandrea
When I was gathering information today for a story about Smith Elementary School students collecting school supplies for a school in Africa, I was struck by the fact that all the kids didn’t just go home and ask their parents to buy supplies.
Smith Elementary Principal Wendy Gooch explained to students they could use allowance money or pass up on ice cream one day and use the savings to buy school supplies. Many of them did.
“I wanted it to be from them — Seabee to Seabee,” Gooch told me.
A few weeks ago, Gooch received a call from Tammy Speicher of Mebane. Tammy Speicher’s son, Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeffrey Speicher, is currently deployed to Comoros Island, Africa and building a school. He is part of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 and in Navy terms, it means he’s a Seabee.
Jeffrey Speicher asked his mother to try and get students from his alma mater, Alamance Christian School, to collect school supplies for the kids who will attend the African school. Tammy Speicher went to Smith Elementary instead because the school’s mascot is the Seabee.
I was touched by how many of the students thought about the kids they were collecting school supplies 
for in Africa, and that they didn’t depend on their parents to make the donation. They really learned the meaning of giving.
I was able to chat with two third-grade boys, Nicholas Williams, 8, and Robert Rueh, 9, about the 
experience.
They were very candid.
“I thought they (Africans) were a bunch of people in rags with very little food and very little education,” Nicholas said.
Robert said: “That leads back to the school supplies.”
They realized that schools were being built, and they wanted to make a difference.
“It feels good to be able to help,” Robert said.
