September 29, 2005


Caring caravan

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

Hard hit New Orleans may be 1,856 miles from San Jose, but leave it to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to remind us just how deep this nation’s roots really grow—and how charitable people can be in times of crisis.

Stephanie Kirchick (center right) called a few friends to help put some care packages together for Hurricane Katrina victims and had less than 24 hours to do it. By noon the following day, word had spread throughout the Almaden Country School community, who responded swift and generously, enabling Kirchick and her unexpected caravan of seven vans and SUVs filled with loads of donated clothing, toiletries, and school supplies to a waiting charted jet. Shown from left, Denise Hall, Leslie Saviage, Kirchick, and Jeanine Smith. Photo by Kymberli Brady.

Stephanie Kirchick got a life lesson in less than 24 hours after deciding to do something to help the victims left behind—many of whom could have been family or friends who hadn’t checked in yet.

Her roots trace back to her father, who grew up in Lake Charles, La. and attended Tulane University before heading west and settling in San Jose with his family. She has chosen Almaden to raise her own family and has become very active in her daughter’s school, Almaden Country School.

Last month, when Hurricane Katrina started what Rita finished, it dealt disastrous blows to both family and friends, making it impossible to watch from so far away without aching to help.

“My father said we were not going to send money, because we didn’t know what was going on there and it was very chaotic,” explained Stephanie. “We decided to wait because we’d probably find that we knew people whose homes will have been completely demolished.”

Some couldn’t wait long enough.

Three days later, a family friend at Smith Barney decided to charter a plane and leave the following day to deliver soft goods and toiletries directly to the Huston Astrodome. If Stephanie had anything to contribute, he said he’d be happy to take it with him.

“It was 1:30 in the afternoon,” she said. “So I started calling my neighbors and some friends. Then I put an e-mail together to go out to all the parents at the school.”

Within minutes, Denise Hall, Jeanine Smith and Leslie Saviage had answered the call and the four women got busy. Jeanine suggested enlisting the help of ACS school administrator Diane Blake to facilitate an e-mail blast and the ripple effect was on its way.

As the evening wore on, the four women sorted, bagged, and labeled the steady stream of items that kept coming, proudly accepted their own children’s thoughtfulness, as they sacrificed their lunch money and allowances for the cause, and then headed off to call their friends to help. They marveled in some of the items received—$500 of insulin in a refrigerated case, brand-new items, even a small ballerina jewelry box that contained a treasure trove of little girl trinkets, silver dollars, and a personal note from the girl that simply said, “‘We’re thinking of you. I hope you enjoy this box.”

The plan was to pick up the items that had been dropped off at the school by 10 a.m. and then Stephanie would head to Palo Alto the following morning and deliver them to a location by noon.
Everything changed when they arrived at ACS the following morning and discovered a project that just outgrew them.

“The next day, it was amazing,” Stephanie began.

“We pull up and I think I’m going to get it in my car,” Denise laughed.

“There were mounds and mounds of stuff,” added Stephanie. “It was so heartwarming. People were coming out of the woodwork wanting to help.”

After two hours of sorting, stacking, and categorizing items that ranged from toothbrushes to insulin, they were on their way, only instead of one vehicle as originally planned; it was now a seven-van caravan.

“I think what made this different is that people knew where their items were going,” said Denise.

“Everybody felt pretty helpless,” Stephanie added. “And this was a real palatable way to help and that it was going to get there. The Salvation Army was there to pick it up on the other end, so we knew it wasn’t going to be dumped and left. It was going to be distributed right away.”