The O'Brien School for the Maasai has been a sister school to Hinsdale’s Monroe School since its inception in 2007. Located in Sanya Station, Tanzania, the school serves 320 students in kindergarten through sixth grade. The school’s founder is former Monroe parent Kellie O'Brien.
Parent-Teacher Organization representative Kim Anderson explains that Monroe students and staff lead an oatmeal drive each fall to benefit their sister school and this year also collected shoes and other needed items during the month of October. Anderson notes, “The area is one of extreme poverty and the drought this year has made life even more difficult.”
In total, the school has led a collection that resulted in 140 containers of oatmeal, 1,000 pairs of shoes, 125 pairs of socks, 300 tennis balls, 17 soccer balls, and 5,600 sheets of paper. Thanks to a generous donation by Newell Rubbermaid Corporation, the school is also sending more 10,300 pencils to the Tanzanians.
Volunteers will help load a 40-foot container of the items that will be sent to Africa on November 15.
