Elementary Students Helping Tulsa Brookside Businesses

By Ashli Sims, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Dozens of Brookside businesses got a boost in the economy Tuesday night and they have a class of elementary school kids to thank for the extra customers.

Leave it to some third graders to keep it simple -- save a job, buy local.

An army of pint-sized power shoppers fanned out in Tulsa's Brookside to do their civic duty.

"We're encouraging people to shop local," said Anna LeGere, an Eliot Elementary 3rd grader.

Anna and friends are using their purchasing power, or rather their parents' purchasing power, for a purpose.

"Our teachers were kind of upset that the firefighters and policemen were losing their jobs. So they decided we were going to do something to try to help them," Anna said.

"It's turned into a wonderful hands-on project because the kids wanted to get involved in the project to see how they could help save jobs and be good citizens in the city of Tulsa as well," said Cathy Essley, an Eliot Elementary 3rd grade teacher.

And a push to boost the city's slumping sales tax revenues was born. The Eliot 3rd graders wrote letters to Brookside businesses, sold t-shirts, drafted their parents and kicked off their own mini-stimulus package.

"We did send letters to businesses to see if they would participate and some of them did, and some of them didn't. But it didn't really matter because a lot of them did sign up," said Anna.

Shops and restaurants flagged with a paper t-shirt offered discounts and a chance at prizes.

Anna and company ended up painting ceramics at Purple Glaze and their teachers hope they get something more than just a keepsake out of this homework assignment.

"They can do something, no matter how old they are. They can always help somebody. If somebody's in need, whether it's our whole city or an individual person, there's always something they can do," said Essley.

Essley says she's gotten such a great response, they might do this again next year.

3/4/2010  Related Story: Tulsa Elementary Students Encouraging Local Shopping