'Operation Wampus Cat' reaches Texas
(Courtesy photo) Clark Fork High School teacher KC MacDonald, top right center, traveled to Jessup Elementary School in Texas recently after his leadership class and local elementary students gathered nearly 500 pounds of school supplies to donate to young victims of Hurricane Harvey. Also pictured is Jessup Principal Ryan Pavone, top left center; school counselor Valecia Nolandas, right; veterans Inge Conley, left, and Terry Contella, second from top right; as well as several Jessup Elementary fourth-graders showing off their new supplies.
(Courtesy photo) Clark Fork High School teacher KC MacDonald, second from left, sports an 'Operation Wampus Cat' shirt as he poses next to the trailer filled with nearly 500 pounds of school supplies in Texas last week. The donations were collected in North Idaho and delivered to Jessup Elementary School in Houston with the help of veterans across four states. From left, veteran Terry Contella, MacDonald, veteran Inge Conley, and Jessup Prinicipal Ryan Pavone.
CLARK FORK — Operation Wampus Cat came to a successful conclusion on Nov. 27 when Clark Fork High School teacher KC MacDonald watched the U-Haul trailer loaded with nearly 500 pounds of school supplies arrive at Jessup Elementary School in Houston, Texas.
"It was awesome," MacDonald said, still awestruck by the experience after his return to Clark Fork last week.
He was greeted by a sign when he arrived that said, "Welcome KC MacDonald," and thanking the Clark Fork students and community for all they had done.
"They were just so appreciative of what we were doing," he said.
MacDonald and his Clark Fork High School leadership students started collecting the school supplies this fall to help out young victims of Hurricane Harvey. After enlisting the help of local elementary school students, MacDonald ended up with more supplies than he could have imagined. With about 900 kids at Jessup Elementary, the more supplies the better, but there was just one problem — MacDonald needed to get hundreds of pounds of paper, pencils, markers, backpacks and more from North Idaho to Texas. Shipping them by mail was no longer an option.
So, with the help of more than 20 veterans across Idaho, Utah, New Mexico and Texas, the trailer arrived safely in Texas on Nov. 27. MacDonald flew down shortly before the supplies were delivered to the school. He was a bit nervous, he said, because he hadn't seen the trailer for more than two weeks.
MacDonald was greeted at Jessup by the school's three principals — it is a big school, he said — and some of the fourth-graders were chosen to unload the trailer. He handed one of the students the key and watched their faces of amazement as it was opened.
Spending the day at the school, MacDonald gave presentations in some of the classes and MacDonald said he was struck by their resilience.
"They were tough," MacDonald said. "They are tough people, they are proud people and they helped each other through that very scary time."
The school is in a low-income area and the principal said 92 percent of the students are educationally disadvantaged. While the school itself made it through the hurricane, many of the families lost everything in the flooding.
However, MacDonald said, the kids were not worried about themselves. They were more worried about how people in North Idaho get through blizzards. One kid asked, "What does snow taste like?" to which MacDonald replied, "It tastes like frozen water." The youngster then asked if MacDonald could send him some snow. MacDonald said he can at least send a picture.
The kids also asked him about wildlife, hunting and the mountains. He answered questions and showed them pictures of home.
"The green and the beauty of where we live was just amazing to them," MacDonald said.
In the end, it was more about the effort put forth than it was about the supplies. A couple of local veterans in Clark Fork helped MacDonald get in touch with Rockey Davis, the senior vice commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Idaho in Lewiston. Davis then helped organized the expedition through VFW units in the other states. Veterans would haul the trailer for a ways, from a couple to several hours of driving, before handing it off to the next volunteer.
Even the two-inch hitch ball needed for the trailer was donated by a Clark Fork community member, who also happened to be a veteran. MacDonald left the hitch ball with one of the principals at Jessup to put in the trophy case.
MacDonald sent a logbook with the trailer for each of the volunteer veterans to write in before passing the supplies off to the next driver. There were a couple names missing, MacDonald said, but he plans to get in touch with each person who helped with Operation Wampus Cat.
"We want to make sure we honor everybody who was a part of this," MacDonald said.
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.