November 1, 2024
Inspired by the kindness and drive of South Elementary School 4th grader Aubrey Parker, several local businesses and individuals collectively donated over $5,300 to help fund the school's annual field trip to Jamestown.
Throughout October, Aubrey and her father, Keith, traveled to several businesses and met with locals across Prince George's County to help raise funds for the school's yearly trek to Jamestown, a key part of the school's Virginia Studies curriculum as part of the Virginia Standards of Learning. After learning a specific grant was no longer available to fund the associated costs of the trip, including admission to the Jamestown settlement and travel, South Elementary School's fourth-grade team looked to host fundraisers to try and reduce the $55 per student cost of the trip. As they planned Brunswick stew sales and events at local restaurants where a portion of the day's sales would be donated to the school, Aubrey and her family were inspired to reach out to the Carson community for support.
"I realized it would be a lot of money, and some kids might not be able to go, and I wanted everyone to be able to go, so I made a presentation, and my dad drove me around to a lot of local businesses, and they donated," Aubrey Parker recalled. "We went to the Carson Fire Department, R.M. Wilkinson Oil and Propane, Johnny's Towing and Repair, Campbell Towing and Repair, Hudson Property Management, and East Coast Cleaning Services."
Alongside businesses, several residents made monetary donations to the fundraiser for the Jamestown field trip, including Tommy Davis, Ben Duncan, Freddie Gonzalez, Jeff Perkinson, Mike Dise, and Bill Swineford.
On Monday, October 28, the Carson Fire Department donated $2,500 to the fundraiser, a monumental gift of generosity in the eyes of the Parkers and school principal Susan Braswell.
"They're a non-profit, as well, and what they have made, they've given back to our students, which is fabulous," Braswell remarked. "I'm blessed, and the fact that they did that for our students, all of our fourth graders, thanks to Aubrey being the voice of this, I am super happy about this. As Aubrey said, there are a lot of students who wouldn't be able to go on the field trip, so when they came in and told me about these donations, I got chills from it. This was all Aubrey's idea, and we are so proud of her."
Aubrey's father, Keith, was moved by his daughter's inspiring act of kindness and her motivation to contribute to a cause that benefits her classmates and school profoundly, while also learning valuable skills that she will carry with her later in life.
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An assortment of images from past visits to Jamestown by South Elementary School 4th graders. This year's fundraiser will allow students to be able to make the trek to Jamestown for free thanks to the kindness of the community. (PGCPS Photo)
"It's fantastic that she has taken the initiative, and it has been a great learning experience for her," Keith Parker said. "We are proud that she wanted to go out and do this and had the self-confidence to do this and speak to people. She had to call several of these businesses to set up meetings, make reminder calls, talk to them, get their receipts, and give them thank you cards, so she has really been doing an excellent job with it. She also learned public speaking, how to set up meetings, and how to interact with adults professionally.
The $5,345 raised for South Elementary School by local businesses and individuals underscores the adage, "It takes a village to raise a child," as the Carson community indeed came out in support of the school's field trip fundraiser.
"These businesses totally got on a mission," Keith Parker shared. "Folks talk about shopping locally, and this is exactly why you should do that. If Aubrey had gone in and approached a large national chain, there would have been many tiers before anyone could have approved donating, and they probably would not have been as generous as some of these smaller local businesses, and that's important to note."
Parker remarked on the outpouring of support, "This is also a positive reflection on the school. All of these business owners either have children or grandchildren who attend South Elementary or have gone to the school in the past. It is the positive experiences that certainly helped motivate them to donate to the school, so that is such a positive reflection on Mrs. Braswell, the facility, and everything they do here."
The school will continue to raise funds to support the trip to help ensure the remaining chaperones who wish to be part of the trip have the opportunity to participate in the activity with their child.
"All of this makes me proud to be here, and I appreciate them taking the time out for Aubrey. You can live in a lot of places and you wouldn't have seen this level of support, so this says a lot about this community here. I hope we have an opportunity to continue to support them and show our appreciation," Kevin Parker said.
"I thank our community, I thank Aubrey, I thank everyone because this was not even on my radar, and I had no idea this was happening," Braswell said. "The fact she took this upon herself and that the community was so generous to give as much as they did, I truly don't know if thank you is even enough."