Southeast Elementary lost a special friend, Mr. J.D. Dearman, this year. Mr. J.D. devoted a lot of time, energy and even his own money to helping the students at SEE over the years. His annual "Racing for a Kid's Christmas" fundraisers with the Southeast RC Speedway collected toys and funds that helped to bless students in the SEE community during Christmas. He would even dress up as Santa and surprise the kids!
After J.D. passed in August of this year, his family decided to honor his memory with J.D.'s Final Race to Give. His friends, family, and coworkers at Lockheed Martin gave generously. J.D. always emphasized that it is a blessing to give so his wife Donna and children Kayla and David decided to use the funds raised to allow the children to experience the joy of giving this year.
Every student at SEE was asked "If you could give ONE gift to ONE person what would it be? Why?" The responses were collected and read. The kindness and generosity of the wishes was amazing. Some of the requests were simply impossible for the Dearman family to fulfill (like a new car or house) but they randomly chose 65 requests from the ones that could be managed and purchased the gifts. These students received the following letter and the gift they would give.
The Dearman family also used the money raised to purchase some new playground equipment for all the students to enjoy and a portion will be used to bless some students with necessities for Christmas.
The heart of every school is the community it serves. Southeast Elementary is so blessed to be located in a loving and giving community with families who love us and help in so many ways. We appreciate all of our families and wanted to share this story of our special friend, Mr. J.D. Dearman and how we honored his memory with the practice of "it is more blessed to give than to receive" during this holiday season.