Katrina-What do the children need?

HI everyone!! I am going to be attending a meeting with my son and the meeting is about a project to help the children of Katrina that have lost everything and will not be able to attend school for quite a while. Can anyone please give me some ideas as to what these children may need, besides the obvious things? I want to bring some good quality ideas to the table, something that will really benefit the children there. Also can anyone give me some good, fun, creative ways that 5th and 6th graders can raise money for the cause too? Thank you all in advance for all of the suggestions and I hope that in our small way here, we can help out abundantly!! Thank you all, Allie from Texas

These kids need school supplies and need to start into school wherever they are. Doing something normal and establishing a routine will help them cope (and help their parents take care of all of the work of starting over). Even if they move around several times, being in school will help them. When my kids were 5th & 6th grade they did an all-night rocking chair marathon as a fund raiser. They got people to pledge $ per hour. Some of those kids rocked nearly 24 hours! Rules were they had to keep the chair moving--only one warning for stopping. 10 min per hour break. They had fun and a small church youth group raised $800! Good luck! Joy