Herkimer PTA

By Stephanie Sorrell-White

Evening Telegram

Herkimer Elementary School Principal Kathy Carney found a stack of letters in her inbox Tuesday morning from fourth-graders in Cheryl Jory’s class. The letters showed their support to Carney for her participation in the Ride for Missing Children. 
“They’re so sweet. There are messages of ‘good luck’ and ‘thank you for taking the time to help,’” she said. One message she said was very touching from student Emily Murphy who said, “I believe in you and that is from my heart.” 
On Friday, Carney will be among approximately 460 other participants who will bike an approximate 100-mile course throughout the region to bring awareness of missing children. 
The Ride for Missing Children started 14 years ago when 43 people rode their bikes from the steps of the Capitol building in Albany to Utica. It has since grown into five different rides across the state, including the Central New York ride that Carney will participate in. 
The course begins at the State Police Troop D Headquarters in Oneida and will finish at the New Hartford Recreation Center. The riders will make several stops and ride-bys at schools throughout the region, including stops in the valley. Katie Ullman, media coordinator for the ride, said stops will include Reese Road Elementary School in Frankfort and Herkimer Elementary School. Ride-bys refers to the riders passing by schools where students can cheer them on as they go by. Ullman said the day is filled with other events for the students, such as a safety pep rallies, with the riders going by as the highlight. 
Carney said she had thought about trying to participate in the ride, but when she heard the ride would be stopping at her school, she knew then she had to do it. She said since she has decided to do it, she has received an overwhelming amount of support. 
“The PTA has been extremely supportive and extremely generous,” said Carney, who said the group sponsored a popcorn sale to help raise money for the event. 
With a donation from the Parents Teacher Association and a Pennies for Posters campaign, which became a competition between grade levels, the school raised a total of $1,580 — enough for 6,320 posters. Statistics from the Mohawk Valley branch for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Utica state from September 1995 to December 2009, they had distributed more than 6 million posters of 5,670 missing children; with 4,016 of them now listed as “successfully recovered.” 
Carney said she has never taken part in the event before, but she has been doing training work-outs with other participants, including one this past weekend that was 45 miles. She said though she is not really a biker, she is excited about doing it. 
“It’s really for the cause and to help raise money for the posters,” she said. 
 Ed Smart visited the Mohawk Valley center last month to talk to law enforcement officers and volunteers for the ride. Back then, he said that the ride is important because “when you look at what it’s doing, it’s touching lives across the nation.” Smart became an advocate for missing children after his daughter Elizabeth was kidnapped in 2002 and was found nine months later with her captors Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Ileen Barzee. 
Ullman said Smart was still planning on riding as of Monday night, but said the trial date for Mitchell might be moved up. If it is, Smart may not be able to participate. Ullman said, however, Smart’s willingness to participate does show the importance of the ride. 
“It shows that the ride has become so big that it reaches beyond our borders. It touches the lives of parents of missing children [everywhere]. It gives them hope and when they hear these things. It really helps through on those bad days,” she said.

Herkimer Elementary Parent Teacher Association members over the past two years have headed up fundraising efforts aimed at filling a hole in the plan for the school’s playground renovation.
Prior to this school year the group reached its goal, just over $27,000, and students have been exploring a new piece of equipment since.
The money was used to purchase the X-scape apparatus, which features climbing elements, rings and other adjustable pieces, to replace older equipment. And funds were mainly raised through student participation, bringing home and distributing Cherry Dale catalogs, Pat Kelly, PTA vice president said.
With the new equipment on the grounds, it’s clear why students put in the effort.
“They can’t wait to get out and use it,” Mary Tomaso, assistant principal said
But students aren’t the only ones hitting the rings.
In passing the playground on his way to meetings Kelly feels the number of people still enjoying the equipment shows the true impact. “The place was just packed with kids,” he said, “It benefits the whole community.”
Kelly said it was this mutual benefit that drove the PTA to act upon learning of a need for additional funds for the playground expansion.     
As part of the district’s over $11 million capital project, which is addressing everything from sidewalks to roofs at various buildings in the district, the elementary school playground project totaled over $100,000, according to Jack Roepnack, project manager.
The elementary playground received several new pieces of equipment, including the X-scape, as well as new filling for the grounds, Roepnack said. Without the additional funds, however, the X-scape would have been out of reach, he added.
Tomaso praised the PTA for engaging the district’s needs on a consistent basis.
A few pre-K students were swinging from the X-scape’s cargo-style rope system with ease Monday and, all agreed, they were so good because they climbed almost every day.