Jersey County elementary school sends Christmas gifts to Mississippi

December 23, 2005 (GRAFTON, Ill.) - Some Jersey County elementary school students are sending a little Christmas spirit to a Mississippi school hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Instead of exchanging gifts with each other, Grafton Elementary School students are bringing in gifts to send to Leakesville Elementary School in Leakesville, Mississippi.

Grafton Principal David Evans says the Gulf Coast school suffered major damage to its roof and third-grade classroom.

The Grafton students had come to know one Mississippi family well before the hurricanes. Breden and Menyone Barrow had wrote the Grafton students after finding a balloon launched with a note at the end of last school year.

The Barrows told Evans about the damage to the Leakesville school after the hurricanes, and the schoolchildren decided to help.