Pierson Elementary School’s Florida Future Educators of America (FFEA) and Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center have teamed up to help more than 800 elementary students in Brazil, where many students are orphans. 

The local elementary school students are collecting donations of pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, crayons, markers, coloring books, and eye glasses in front of the school at 1 West 1st Avenue, Pierson, every Wednesday and Friday morning for the month of May.

This project took flight after eight-year-old Katie Davis heard her father, Robert Davis, Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center Executive Director of Nursing, was going on the hospital’s mission trip to Fortaleza, Brazil.  Unbeknown to her father, she approached her school’s principal, Richard T. Myers, and asked him if the school could help.

“I think about how I feel, with everything that I have, and then I look at the photos (of the students in Brazil) and it’s just horrible to see,” Katie said.  “Here in America, what we have is so amazing compared to what they have. It is remarkable how they move through their lives.”

After speaking with Myers, Katie’s father and Linda Misko, Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center Education Department Manager, visited Pierson Elementary School’s FFEA group and talked to them about the mission trip to Brazil.  Photographs of the elementary school abroad, with no playground except a bare metal slide, moved the group of third, fourth and fifth graders to take action.

Eight-year old Aubrie Anderson has been in front of the school every Wednesday and Friday morning at 7:15 a.m., collecting supplies from her fellow students and their families. 

“My Mom and Dad feel really good that we do this,” Anderson said.  “The kids in Brazil don’t have as much as we do and this could really help them learn things like math and science.”

For those who can’t make it to Pierson Elementary School in the early mornings, donors can drop off items with Linda Weaver, FFEA’s sponsor and third-grade teacher, or at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center, Education Department, 301 Memorial Medical Parkway, 10th floor, Daytona Beach.

A team of volunteers from the Daytona Beach nonprofit hospital will travel to Fortaleza, Brazil for a mission trip from July 30 to August 8 with a team of 25.  While there, doctors, nurses and nonclinical volunteers will provide free clinics and build a playground for the students. 

This serves as another example of Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center’s mission of hope, health and healing.  With five nonprofit hospitals in Volusia and Flagler counties, Florida Hospital is the largest hospital system in the area, with nearly 800 beds and 4,700 employees and caring for nearly 650,000 patients every year. In 2010, the five Florida Hospital campuses collectively contributed more than $107 million in benefits to the underprivileged, the community’s overall health and wellness and spiritual needs, and capital improvements.