CHATSWORTH : School Helps Japan Quake Relief Efforts

It makes perfect sense for the students and staff at Santa Susana School to aid quake victims in Kobe, Japan.

They know the feeling.

Last January, many of them suffered severe damage in the Northridge quake. Some lost their homes and still haven’t moved back.

“We went through that trauma ourselves,” said Farida Nassery, the director of elementary programs at the private school in Chatsworth. “We really feel for the Japanese.”

Nassery, who had to move out of her West Hills home for six months after the temblor, said the school will be collecting blankets and money from students and their parents.

So far, the fund-raising effort, which started Thursday, has received 23 blankets and nearly $500 in cash.

She said the school will put up flyers at businesses in Chatsworth, Northridge and West Hills, although it is only asking for blankets from the community.

Nassery added that the school contacted local television stations, which indicated that blankets and money were the items most in demand.

“They said that since the diet is so different between the two countries, they didn’t recommend for us to send food,” Nassery said.

She said the fund-raising would continue through Friday, and all the items gathered will be turned over to the American Red Cross in Chatsworth.