Brandi Eley, Starr’s Mill High School U.S. and world history teacher, encourages her students each year at Christmas to help those that are less fortunate. She has taught at Starr’s Mill for the past four years and has had her students choose a special project helping others each year. Last year her classes were able to help buy school supplies for Katrina victims in Louisiana.

Students in Eley’s five classes and Dick Carr’s geography class chose a project and then began collecting as much money as possible. They wanted to be able to help families that were having trouble paying their power bills to ensure them of electricity for the holidays. They began bringing in their contributions in late November and before school recessed for Christmas, $1,300 had been collected.

The classes partnered with Coweta-Fayette EMC to distribute the money where it was most needed helping families that had fallen on hard times due to job loses, deaths and also for seniors. After reviewing accounts, Coweta-Fayette chose five families to receive the much needed assistance with their electric bills. The families were very grateful that someone cared enough to remember them during this hard time in their lives.

Eley said, “I am very proud of my students. They are an amazing group of kids.”