All 470 students at Lowry Elementary School were sporting chocolate milk mustaches after a special pre-holiday delivery from Starbucks in the Lowry Town Center. On December 21, 2007, Starbucks manager Joe Buzas and employee Elisha Trombley braved the snow to bring over hot chocolate for every student as a delicious send-off before Winter Break. Not only did Starbucks donate the coffee free of charge, but Joe and Elisha volunteered their time without pay!
Starbucks was saying thank you to Lowry's students for participating in Starbucks' holiday toy drive. With the help of Lowry Elementary School's students, staff and families, Starbucks in the Lowry Town Center collected more than 123 toys that were donated to the Starlight Starbright Foundation, which helps seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.
Most of Lowry's students were enjoying classroom celebrations on the last day prior to their 16-day winter break. Tracy Frees's ECE students were watching the Polar Express along with their reading buddies in Kaela Rouse's fourth/fifth grade class. Jane Shannon's third graders had a book exchange where each student brought in a book to gift to someone else in the class. Amelia Roche's kindergarteners accumulated 100 marbles for good behavior and voted to have an ice cream sundae party instead of their usual pizza party. They also had the option of wearing their pajamas to school for the entire day.
As was to be expected, most of the children were excited about their classroom celebrations and the break from the regular routine of their school day. As the hot chocolate cart rolled up in front of their classrooms, the students squirmed in eager anticipation. Things got a little messy as parents Julie Chapman, Diana Hammerstein, Anne McDonald and Lisa Roberts worked as quickly as possible with Joe and Elisha to get the cups filled and distributed among the kids. By the time the last of the hot chocolate had been passed out, the tops of the carts were swimming in spilled hot chocolate, but the kids' chants of "thank you" at the top of their lungs made it all worthwhile.