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Crosswind's "Tickled Pink" Cancer Awareness Day
Crosswind’s “Tickled Pink” Cancer Awareness Day Also Includes Special
Recognition for Teacher of the Year Finalist, Joan Donahue
Thursday was an important day at Crosswind Elementary School. First,
the school participated in “Tickled Pink Day” in support of Breast Cancer
Awareness month. All students, teachers and staff wore pink clothes and
accessories. It was a simple act, but one with significant impact in
terms of spreading awareness for the cause. As you can see from the
photos below, kids had lots of fun getting involved. ** In addition, during
a separate activity that day, Mrs. Joan Donahue was called to the
Crosswind Stage, not to show off her pink clothes, but to be honored by
Blue Bell Ice Cream for being one of the nine state-wide finalists for
the 2010 Tennessee Teacher of the Year award. Mrs. Donahue will be
attending the award banquet in Nashville on November 5. As a special
treat celebrating this incredible honor, Blue Bell provided ice cream for
the whole school!  
PHOTOS (L-R)
#1 – FRONT - Madeline Thomas,  Hannah Kate McDowell,  Mallory Crossman,  Demi
Toles, Valerie Owen, Megan Stephens; SECOND - Mike Garcia,  Keeley McCutheon,
Megan Allen, Madelyn Wild,  Anna Lauren Kornegay , Ashley Prascak, Destiny Taylor;
THIRD - Caidren Kear, Zachary Fry, Elijah Holcomb, Sam Smith, Chandler Norton,
Norvin Patterson, Jaylon Murphy; FOURTH - Gregory Bonnema, Eric Maddigan, Braden
Sutton.
#2 - Keeley McCutheon, Mrs. Joan Donahue, Megan Allen, Madelyn Wild, and Anna
Lauren Kornegay
#3 - (Unknown – from Blue Bell), Norris Seay, Sales Manager for Blue Bell, Mrs. Joan
Donahue and David Luiken, Branch Manager for Blue Bell
Grant brings unified fire safety message to elementary students
By Rebecca Priddy, Special to My Life
Friday, October 23, 2009

The Shelby County Council PTA and the Shelby County Metro Fire Marshals
Association collaborated this year to get a consistent fire safety program into the
elementary schools in the Shelby County Schools system.

With the help of a grant from the Assisi Foundation, 26 of the 30 elementary schools'
PTAs or schools have implemented the programs.

The programs consist of one kit per classroom for pre-K through third grade that
includes a 17-minute DVD on fire safety and teaching material and each school
receives one Buzzly puppet with music CD, as well as a Spanish version.

"With the introduction of the Buzzly Fire Safety Program into the Shelby County
Schools system we hope to see a reduction in the number children killed or injured by
fire. If just one child is spared that fate, it will be worth every cent and every ounce of
effort spent to make this program happen," said David Bradshaw, Bartlett fire marshal
and president of the Shelby Country Metro Fire Marshals Association.
In addition to implementing the program into the elementary schools, kits of the Buzzly
Fire Safety Program were recently donated to the Bartlett, Arlington and Shelby County
fire departments for each fire station to use to educate area children consistently in fire
safety.

The kits were made available through a grant from CIGNA Health Care. This gift is
important to the fire departments as they are supporting the Tennessee State Fire
Marshal's initiative to protect the high-risk children through education.
"It is the intent of CIGNA to help the people we serve improve their health, well-being
and security. CIGNA cares about young children and by providing the Buzzly Fire
Safety programs to teach the young children, we are teaching them basic safety skills
that will last a lifetime," said Brent Wick, senior CIGNA manager.

Elementary schools in the Bartlett and Arlington area that currently have the Buzzly
program are Arlington, Bartlett, Bon Lin, Ellendale, Lakeland, Oak and Rivercrest.

For more information on Buzzly Fire Safety, visit buzzlyfiresafety.com. To find out more
information about the Buzzly programs in Shelby County, contact Rebecca Priddy at
ropriddy@comcast.net.

Rebecca Priddy is past president of the Shelby County Council PTA.