Bethany Blonde, a Peace Corps volunteer who has lived in Bulgaria for the past year, visited the club recently to thank them for their contribution to the school, where she teaches
Bulgarian students get boost from Yumans
BY PAM M. SMITH
Jan 10, 2004
If a group of Bulgarian students master English, they own some of their thanks to Foothills Rotarians and The Foothills Bank.
The Foothills Rotary Club and the bank together contributed $1,000 to a school in Hissar, a small town in Bulgaria, where the money will go toward English instruction.
Bethany Blonde, a Peace Corps volunteer who has lived in Bulgaria for the past year, visited the club recently to thank them for their contribution to the school, where she teaches.
A Peace Corps partnership program allows civic organizations in the United States to assist the corps in aid work around the world. The Foothills Rotary Club, taking part in the program, contributed $500 for the Bulgarian English library and, in turn, asked the bank to contribute the same amount.
"My town and the Peace Corps helped so we could paint the room, fix the floor and purchase a white board, which drew a lot of attention when students saw how it could be used with color markers," Blonde said.
"With the recent contribution, and the Peace Corps partnership, new desks and chairs will be purchased, plus a television set, a videocassette recorder and stereos, plus 509 dictionaries," she added. "Shelving and curtains will be needed."
Blonde said her mother, Lydia Lewis, a secretary at the Mountain Trails Middle School in Paradise Valley, also organized a book collection and 22 boxes of books were sent to the school.
Raised in Scottsdale, Blonde earned her teaching degree at the University of Arizona.
"My students have a variety of backgrounds — Gypsy, Turks, Jews and Bulgarians. I not only teach them the English language, but I also tell them about our American culture. I found they are proud of their country, which became a country in 681 (A.D.), and has survived different governments, mostly Communism."
Blonde will return to Bulgaria for her last six months with the Peace Corps.
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Pam M. Smith can be reached at psmith@yumasun.com or 539-6856.
