School raises funds for military rehab clinic
BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer

NORTH BRUNSWICK - The Social Studies Department at Linwood Middle School raised $740 during a Valentine's Day fundraiser to support the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

"It seemed like the right thing to do on a lot of different levels," eighth-grade Social Studies teacher Rick Selover said. "The value I saw from a teaching perspective was that when you have a war today like the one you see overseas, it's easy for the people at home to dismiss it or forget about it because it doesn't have an impact. This way, kids see the reality of it."

All of the money raised by the students will go directly towards the construction of a state-of-the-art rehabilitation clinic at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Selover heard about the organization one morning while listening to Don Imus of the "Imus in the Morning" radio show on WFAN.

"Hearing the casualty numbers are one thing. ... Yes, people die, but the people who are maimed have to deal with that the rest of their lives," he said.

Selover said that $40 will be put into the general fund while $700 will be used to purchase two pavers for the walkway, which will say "Linwood Middle School, North Brunswick, N.J."

"It's a nice thing to tell the kids that it will be there forever," he commented.

The first part of the fundraiser was a dress-down day for the staff. For a donation of $1, faculty were able to exchange their usual formal work attire for more casual clothing.

The second part was "One Dollar, One Day" in which students were asked to donate $1 each. The idea came from a Phil Collins live album Selover owned, of which Collins asked concert-goers to donate $1 after the concert to support hunger relief.

"When you have 20,000 people putting in a dollar, it makes a huge difference. We figured, one dollar, one day, let's see what we can accomplish," he said.

Although the blizzard from a few weeks ago caused a snow day which postponed the fundraiser until Feb. 15, Selover was still pleased with the results.

"The kids really came through," he said. "It's one thing to say that someone goes to war and loses an arm. But picture that person trying to brush their teeth. If they were right handed and lost their right arm ... I think that's where it really clicked."

The total expected cost of the building is $35 million. As of press time, the total amount raised by Imus was $10 million. For more information about the fundraising effort, visit www.wfan.com or www.fallenheroes.org.