Jose Rosales (left) and James Simmons were two of the approximately 80 students in the Success program who helped raise $1,000 for the Thomas Cannon Fund.

Longtime Richmond residents may remember postal worker Thomas Cannon, known affectionately as “the poor man’s philanthropist.” Living much of his life on a salary of less than $20,000 a year, Cannon collected and distributed over $155,000 during his lifetime, giving out gifts of $1,000 to recognize people in the community.

Though Cannon may have died in 2005, his legacy continues to live on at L.C. Bird High School. There, students in the Success Program have started the Thomas Cannon Fund, raising $1,000 to be given to a cause that represents the philanthropy of Thomas Cannon.

“The students had befriended Thomas Cannon in 2004 and he supported them until his death in 2005,” says Matt Bland, Success Program Coordinator. “I had been using the book about Thomas Cannon, The Poor Man’s Philanthropist as part of our curriculum to teach students about what it means to be a philanthropist, but this is the first year that we have done this fund. The students talked about helping others less fortunate and the kids here at Bird thought it would be a great idea to do.”

To raise $1,000, students in the program did no fundraisers, collecting money only within the program, taking approximately two to three months. With the money collected, the only decision was where to give it.

The kids formed a committee to select the recipients,” says Bland. “One of our students recently lost their father to cancer, so we donated $600 in gift certificates to his family and donated the rest to the Pediatric Unit at MCV to buy board games and DVDs for the patients.”

Aside from collecting money and deciding on the recipients, students also played a big role in coordinating the donation with MCV.

“We had decided to give toys to kids and I wanted to help out,” says rising sophomore Jose Rosales. “I looked up the number for the pediatric unit and just kept calling them until I was redirected to the right person to handle the donation.”

For many of the students in the program, the effort was a refreshing opportunity to see how much they could make a difference.

“I felt that doing this fund was a creative and fun way to help someone else,” says rising sophomore James Simmons. “It felt good to know that we got to help someone that really needs it.”

Adds Rosales, “It was fun and interesting. I was surprised at how much we were able to raise.”

As one of the main goals of the Success program is to teach character development, Bland was pleased at how well the students jumped into the project. For him, it was just as much about student development as it was about helping others.

“This was such a great learning lesson for the kids,” says Bland. “The entire fund was started, organized, and collected by kids. I just stood back and the kids did it all.”

nderatto@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421

© Copyright by Village Publishing

Top of Page                                              Comment on This Article

The Village News office is located at 4607 West Hundred Road Chester
Mailing address is PO Box 2397 Chester, VA 23831
Phone: 751-0421  Fax: 751-9155
Office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday call ahead for other hours.
Statement of Journalistic Ethics