[meteorite-list] Update: Russell & meteorite donations

[STUARTATK]

Hi all,

Following my weekend posting about my school talk and meeting Russell, I contacted the school to let them know about the wonderfully generous offers many List members made, asking the teachers there to check with Russell's parents that it was okay.

Here's the response:

<< A big thank you from us all at St.Beghs we all had a wonderful afternoon. I
think as teachers it has filled some gaps in our knowledge about the earth,
sun & moon. The children were that enthusiastic that we had lovely comments
from parents at parents evening about how much their child had enjoyed it.

The idea of the meteorites for Russell was great. He has had to go back into
hospital this week to Newcastle as he was poorly over the weekend it must be
disappointing for him as he was trying so hard to return to school.
Hopefully this idea will all help in getting / keeping him positive.

We have checked with his parents and Mrs. shaw thinks its great so if you
can set the ball rolling with your US contacts. Russell would also like to be in contact
with these US contacts so he could ask questions about the meteorites and
also say thank you for their kindness. It was so nice to see him a part of
year 5 on Friday and being enthusiastic about such an interesting topic. >>

So, guys, the rest is up to you... I hope everyone will understand that I'm not going to post Russell's or the school's address on the List as several people asked me to, because although I trust everyone I know of on here **totally**, none of us have any idea how many "lurkers" there are out there do we, or who accesses the List thru sneaky means... I mean, all that Spam comes from somewhere, right? So, because I'd hate some unsavoury character to take advantage of this situation I'd rather take the risky myself, so if anyone has anything for Russell, or the other sick child at that school, please send them to my address and I'll forward them on your behalf. Please enclose at least a small note with your own contact details on, so Russell and/or his parents can contact you afterwards as he wants to.

I'm also arranging - with the school's and Russell's parents' permission - for this to go in a local paper (schools over here are so poorly funded believe me, they need all the community support and exposure they can get), so I'll be sure to post the report and any accompanying photos on my website, so you can all see for yourselves just how happy you've made this little guy with your gifts.

( Just as a footnote, Russell is in a school in a coastal town called Whitehaven, and one of its Claims To Fame is that it was, for a while, the home of a certain John Paul Jones, the founder of the American Navy. When he returned to Whitehaven as captain of a warship Jones tried to attack it from the sea... the only recorded attempt by the US to invade the UK. There's gratitude for you.)

Don't know what else to say really. "Thank you" seems pitifully inadequate, but it's all I've got right now... so thank you.

Good work guys. Very proud of all of you.

Stu

1 Mitre Court
St Helen's Street
Cockermouth
Cumbria
CA13 9HZ
England