Joplin Schools Get $500k Donation From UAE
The UAE embassy will donate up to another $500,000 to match any other contributions for laptops, district officials said.
School district officials said on Wednesday the $500,000 will help meet a aim of providing all two,200 Joplin High School students with a personal laptop computer.
The district has a fundraising aim of $2.7 million for the laptops, spokesman Jim Dunn said on Wednesday. Insurance money can be tapped for a quantity of the funding, they said.
Laptops will enable students to access educational resources, such as online textbooks, in the wake of the May 22 tornado that destroyed the high school and other schools while damaging half of all school buildings.
The May 22 tornado took 160 lives and destroyed about 30 percent of Joplin, a city of about 50,000 residents. It was the deadliest tornado in the United States in over 60 years.
Lots of other donations have been made to the schools since the tornado, ranging from $25 by various individuals to $250,000 and $500,000 by families, said Melanie Dolloff, who is a volunteer helping to coordinate fundraising for the district. ”It’s overwhelming,” Dolloff said on Wednesday. “We have had people reaching out from all over the world.”
The tornado wiped out the classrooms, books and supplies of 260 Joplin teachers, Dolloff said.
Thousands of local students will attend classes in temporary locations in the approaching school year.
Late last month, singer Sheryl Crow, a Missouri native and former teacher, announced they would auction off her Mercedes-Benz 190 SL Roadster and give proceeds to Joplin schools through a fundraising foundation in Springfield, Mo. The automobile is projected to bring from $50,000 to $80,000.
The United Arab Emirates is an oil-rich Gulf Arab state bordering Saudi Arabia consisting of seven emirates headed by a single ruling relatives. It is the world’s third-largest oil exporter and has the world’s eighth largest per capita income. The UAE has used a number of this wealth to donate to various charitable causes around the globe.
