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If there is one most amazing thing about people in Elkins, it is the way they will pitch in and help out when help is needed.
The three dear people who have helped out at Kump Education Center in the last ten days are Kathy Leombruno, Marilynn Cuonzo, and Frank Santmyer.
Kathy Leombruno came to KEC from Citizens Bank of WV to help kids learn about banking in the last week of "Targeted Tutoring."
I thought the lesson might be about money and math, but Kathy made it much more than that. She found the story called "The Pickle Patch Bathtub" about a girl who lived on a farm back in a time before rural families had running water.
When the girl grew too tall to sit comfortably in the family wash tub, she wanted to get a real bathtub, and she started selling cucumbers at the general store for pickle making. The girl earned one dime at a time for her new bathtub.
Kathy's lesson was the perfect way to finish our eight-week program because we had been trying to help students set new goals and make progress that they could understand. Kathy gave a lesson in math, reading and goal setting that our students will remember, and it will help them become more successful people.
The next friend who helped us this week is Marilynn Cuonzo. She is the person who made our Elkins Tree Board more effective when she was on City Council. She helped us start the City Tree Nursery and add more trees in the wetland both at Kump Center.
This week we had decided to meet and start making landscape plans on Wednesday afternoon. When Marilynn arrived, I was trying to mop out the muddy water that flooded our classroom, garage and office on Wednesday. She went to fetch her long-handled squeegee and was able to get the muddy water out of the classroom in short order. Marilynn gave help that made a great difference when we really needed it most.
Frank Santmyer has done two very nice things this week to help Kump Center. When I saw that the rubble from the old fence and historic gateposts was gone, I thought the City had removed it. But Debra Barsy let me know that Frank had sent a crew with excavating machinery to clean up the site.
Frank is always looking for ways he can help nonprofit organizations through things like the Snowshoe Foundation and/or special fundraisers at Gino's Pizza.
Kump Center has several dulcimers that we got with a grant from Snowshoe Foundation before the pandemic, and many other school-related programs have benefited from Snowshoe funding over the years.
Not only has Frank helped the "Beautification Committee" to remove the rubble, but he is also helping to earn funds for the lights and new fence in front of Kump House. He agreed to provide the famous pepperoni rolls from Gino's Pizza to be sold at the "Pepperoni Roll Pop Up" in the old IGA parking lot this Saturday at noon. The beautification project and fundraiser were planned by Debra Barsy and Laura Santmyer.