Help my childhood school, please?

[Thanasimos]

Well, I grew up in a sort of serious shithole, and that shithole is getting shittier fast courtesy of the California budget crisis. If you go to this link (http://www.lots2give.com/?s=Yk8NTrXBDh4) you can vote for my childhood elementary school to get a $10,000 grant, which will help at least some (although it will come nowhere near to fixing our bevvy of issues). Note that the area it draws from is listed as having the highest poverty rates in LA County. Then note also that Compton and all the other legendary LA ghettos and barrios are in LA county. I think those facts make my point for me. The kids there are already off to a bad start, by virtue of living in Lake Los Angeles, and they need all the help they can get. It's as easy as clicking that vote button three times (and maybe coming back and doing it every day?). Thanks much! If you want to view the video entry without clicking through and voting (but why would you do that? :(), here it is:
Yk8NTrXBDh4

Please, please help out. To put it simply, most of these kids can't vote for their own school because a very, very large number of those households can't afford computers.

[diablopath]

Voted three times, and will everyday until it ends.

[JRR006]

I can click a button three times a day!

[carnage11]

Voted 3 times. That's funny you can just click it three times in rapid succession. If I remember, I'll do it again tomorrow.

[Shrinn]

On it! tooshort

[Expugnare]

Remember everyone, if the polls aren't inflated (http://proxy.org/), it's not the way of the internet.

[Lint of Death]

I just voted, like, 6 times with partial assistance from that proxy link.

[Thanasimos]

Thanks for all the support, guys! At the same time, I'm going to have to go ahead and Ask that you please don't use the proxy. I'm already skirting the intent a bit by directly linking you to a school and asking you to vote for it, as opposed to setting you loose on the site and encouraging the lot of you to make your own decisions. Going further than that just seems too much. After all, although I believe my school to be the most needy, that's also hugely biased, and if there is another school out there that can make a better case, and could even win in unrigged circumstances, then it deserves the cash.

[carnage11]

Careful....the power of the CoG is immense. Only to be used for worthy causes. If misused.....it could bring disastrous consequences. :D

[NoName]

Done and done.

[Narradisall]

I'll farm it out to some Korean bots.

[civil]

It fucking kills me that it comes to this. Fucking kids begging a fucking company for a fucking playground. Our priorities are fucked up in this fucking country.

That said, I voted and will continue to do so. And it's true about the power of CoG. Remember at EvAv when I asked you all to vote for my friend's coffee shop? She went from obscurity to landslide winner in a matter of days. Unleash us, and we'll get you what you need. Though I do respect your restraint.

[Thanasimos]

Thank you very much for the support, guys. It means a lot to me, and it would mean a lot to the kids too, if they ever found out.

[Generation ABXY]

Wait, the money is going towards a playground? Screw that, I'll look around and see if I can't find one asking for important stuff (like books, computers or, hell, even desks) first.

[Alatheia]

I looked, then searched to see if any schools around me were trying to get money. Two in the district I went to. One video was shit and the other... well the kids wrote the script themselves, they lied about what they needed money for.

So, I voted for your old school.

[Thanasimos]

Wait, the money is going towards a playground? Screw that, I'll look around and see if I can't find one asking for important stuff (like books, computers or, hell, even desks) first.

Feel free! But yes, they want a playground. Not surprising. When they say "hot sand," they mean "Oh god, it's 105 out like it is every day and the sand burns me, and the metal slide burns me, and the plastic slide burns me too. As do the monkey bars and the asphalt." With any luck, I think playground money would free up ESL money, which is what the school really needs. I can understand wanting to look for other schools in need. There are quite a few handling special ed children floating around, and I am myself going to send some votes in those directions.

To best describe our level of poverty, the school received so many free or reduced lunch applications that it became cheaper to have everybody on reduced lunch and only handle free lunches. By the time I was in middle school, lunch was just free, because hiring somebody to go over the applications would cost more than they might save by weeding out fraudulent applications.

[Purple Santa]

I voted again today. My one lone good deed for the day.

[Narradisall]

It fucking kills me that it comes to this. Fucking kids begging a fucking company for a fucking playground. Our priorities are fucked up in this fucking country.

You know what civil, your right.

They should make them dance or something. Lazy tykes just on their knees, hands clasped together, begging, put some effort in if you want the money!

[NoName]

Voted once again.

And this is for an elementary school. If the kids want a functional playground then that's something worth competing for.

[Generation ABXY]

I tend to view elementary school as one of the more important times in their educational lives. I mean, you're setting the foundation for anything that follows - if you screw up the basics, it doesn't seem there is much chance of succeeding at anything higher. Given that, I'd like to do my part in making sure that that money goes to something of real value; of course, that's just me, and everyone here is free to make their own choice, NoName.

Regardless, I wish Thanasimos and his old school the best of luck.

[rinichanraar]

Aww, man. I didn't see this yesterday. Oh, well. Voted and bookmarked!

[Thanasimos]

I tend to view elementary school as one of the more important times in their educational lives. I mean, you're setting the foundation for anything that follows - if you screw up the basics, it doesn't seem there is much chance of succeeding at anything higher. Given that, I'd like to do my part in making sure that that money goes to something of real value; of course, that's just me, and everyone here is free to make their own choice, NoName.

Regardless, I wish Thanasimos and his old school the best of luck.

Thanks for the best wishes! I do follow your point quite well, and I am a fair bit ashamed to admit that I feel education at my school to be a lost cause. I am family friends with a teacher there, and talking about the school just gets more and more depressing; right now almost no students can read at grade level and easily two fifths of the population is English Learners -- that is a number large enough that it is difficult to deal with effectively and as a result everybody gets screwed, and the entire process is slowed down.

Even when I attended, the library was mostly stocked with books targeted at K-2, because that was just what was to be expected. Most of my middle school's library (it has the same draw) was in the K-5 zone. Mind, that is not the problem; it is just a visible symptom of it that those books were the ones in demand -- when children could even be driven to read.

It's a big hole, that a hundred thousand dollars couldn't fix, because it starts and largely ends with the parents of these children, who are often neglectful -- not necessarily full of ill-will, but definitely unable to give their children the attention, nutrition and at home education that the kids deserve. If the parents are barely literate in any language, let alone English, then how will they teach their children to read English? We really do have children entering kindergarten not just unable to speak or understand English, but also unable to communicate properly in Spanish, due to that lack of involvement.

However, the area is far from sight: it is unincorporated (Palmdale is just the nearest city), it takes twenty minutes driving from anywhere else to get there, and nobody going anywhere from anywhere else could need to pass through, so to a large extent our problems are ignored, and our tax dollars are spent elsewhere and it's a terrible, terrible mess. I know many people from Palmdale who only know that it exists, and have never even seen it though it is relatively close.

With all that in mind, I would at least like the children to have a safe environment to play in, before the reality of their surroundings really kicks in. This is something that I believe can be done with $10,000

[Purple Santa]

Thanks for the best wishes! I do follow your point quite well, and I am a fair bit ashamed to admit that I feel education at my school to be a lost cause. I am family friends with a teacher there, and talking about the school just gets more and more depressing; right now almost no students can read at grade level and easily two fifths of the population is English Learners -- that is a number large enough that it is difficult to deal with effectively and as a result everybody gets screwed, and the entire process is slowed down.

Even when I attended, the library was mostly stocked with books targeted at K-2, because that was just what was to be expected. Most of my middle school's library (it has the same draw) was in the K-5 zone. Mind, that is not the problem; it is just a visible symptom of it that those books were the ones in demand -- when children could even be driven to read.

It's a big hole, that a hundred thousand dollars couldn't fix, because it starts and largely ends with the parents of these children, who are often neglectful -- not necessarily full of ill-will, but definitely unable to give their children the attention, nutrition and at home education that the kids deserve. If the parents are barely literate in any language, let alone English, then how will they teach their children to read English? We really do have children entering kindergarten not just unable to speak or understand English, but also unable to communicate properly in Spanish, due to that lack of involvement.

However, the area is far from sight: it is unincorporated (Palmdale is just the nearest city), it takes twenty minutes driving from anywhere else to get there, and nobody going anywhere from anywhere else could need to pass through, so to a large extent our problems are ignored, and our tax dollars are spent elsewhere and it's a terrible, terrible mess. I know many people from Palmdale who only know that it exists, and have never even seen it though it is relatively close.

With all that in mind, I would at least like the children to have a safe environment to play in, before the reality of their surroundings really kicks in. This is something that I believe can be done with $10,000

This. I keep clicking because you presented your cause really well. I clicked again.

[SilentScreams]

Bookmarked and voted 3 times. I'll do it again every day for as long as it's open.

[Thanasimos]

This. I keep clicking because you presented your cause really well. I clicked again.

I thought you clicked for karma! ;)

Bookmarked and voted 3 times. I'll do it again every day for as long as it's open.

Thanks to both of you for the support.

[Thanasimos]

Last day guys! Don't forget to vote for whichever school you support! And to make it easy, if you don't want to scroll to the top:
Contest Home: http://www.lots2give.com/
The school I want you voting for: http://www.lots2give.com/?s=Yk8NTrXBDh4

[Laughing Penguin]

You have no more votes today

Good luck with the voting. =]

[Thanasimos]

Thanks to everyone who voted! We'll find out which schools got through and got cash on August 1st. . . which is a long ways a way, but life is long, so we'll get there! I'll be sure to update this thread with the results when I find out.

[Purple Santa]

I thought you clicked for karma! ;)



Thanks to both of you for the support.
Which came first, my selfish desire for Karma or your impassioned plea? The world will never know :D

And your welcome...hope they get the money...

[Thanasimos]

And the winners are in! (http://www.lots2give.com/)

Hey, just like promised, I am back with the results (and only a day late!). Sadly, my school didn't get a dime. And I won't say that I feel the first place winner really needed that ten grand, because if you ask me, the quality of the video (it is quite well done compared to the others, I will admit that) indicates that perhaps if the teachers devoted less time to video making and more time to working their asses off things would get better. But I digress; I do feel that many of the smaller prize winners do need the money -- and hats off to those schools! There's always next year for mine.

[Alatheia]

Oh ffs, the special school that Bill Gates founded in my area won $2,500.

[Thanasimos]

Oh ffs, the special school that Bill Gates founded in my area won $2,500.

That is frequently the way of such things. However, hold out hope that some money went to deserving schools -- that's a start. And looking at some of those videos, if they don't lie, some of the schools really needed the loot.

[Generation ABXY]

Hmm, doesn't look like the school I picked instead won anything either. I don't quite recall the name of that school, mind you, but none of those listed seemed to jump out at me. Oh, well...

[DeathtollWRX]

I hope they get it.
I live in Southern California and I went to LAUSD the whole time. EVerything was always messed up, We even had textbooks chained to the desks.. most missing pages and even the covers. Most of the time the plumbing did not work so the only good water fountains were the ones in the main building.

The only reason why I did well in school is because I moved to LA when I was 12 prior to living in Los Angeles I went to school in Illinois. The standard between the two states is dramatic. I went from a C student to Dean's list as soon as I moved to LA.