School pulls together for a student in need

Newport Heights holds a bake sale to help secondgrader injured in fire. His response: ‘People love me that much?’NEWPORT BEACH -- Newport Heights Elementary School postponed its outdoor Olympics Friday, citing air concerns from the recent brush fire, but in one corner of the blacktop were festivities of a more sobering kind.

As second-grader Trevor Dennis continued his recovery from severe burns at a hospital in San Diego, the school hosted a blood drive and conducted a bake sale to help raise funds for his treatment. Ever since Trevor’s accident on Dec. 30, which occurred when the trailer where he was sleeping caught fire in the San Diego Desert, the Newport Heights community has pulled together for his benefit.

“The family, they’re very strong people, and Trevor has that same strength,” Principal Kurt Suhrsaid. “The thing that’s relieved the whole entire family, the thing that’s keeping them going, is that he’s here.”

For five hours on Friday, Parent Teacher Assn. members and San Diego Blood Bank nurses set up shop on the playground, while the Newport Beach Fire Department officials briefly visited to give students tours of the department’s trucks. A giant get-well card, set on a table by the bake sale, drew dozens of signatures.

“We just took a video and yelled, ‘Get well, Trevor,’” Capt. Gary Gunderson said. “What it does best is momentarily distract him from his problems and let him know there are people out there pulling for him.”

By the end of the day, according to PTA member Deirdre Lewis, the school had netted $1,597 in donations, with some parents writing checks for hundreds of dollars. Firefighters, parents, faculty and others stopped at the blood bank trailer, which collected 45 pints. The school planned to hold a fundraising dinner Friday and another at Ruby’s Diner on Monday.

Trevor, 8, remained in his hospital room on Friday, undergoing physical therapy and napping afterward. His mother, Alysha Reed, said he was aware of the events back in his old neighborhood.

“I told him last night that even though the [Olympic] jog-a-thon was canceled, they were holding the blood drive and bake sale,” Reed said. “Every time I tell him about people doing something for him, he gets choked up. He says, ‘People love me that much?’”

Over the last few weeks, Trevor has undergone surgeries to repair his vocal cords, which fused together in the accident, but the progress has been slow. Reed said she and her husband, Kenny Dennis, were researching American Sign Language schools in case the injury was permanent.

Trevor’s family said he was returning home to Newport Beach within the next week, although it would likely be more than a year before he can attend school again.

“He’s pressing along,” Dennis said.

On the Newport Heights blacktop on Friday, a group of PTA members presided over a table of baked goods and beverages, most of which had been donated by parents. Member Kris Higman said that with financial donations of all sizes coming in, the PTA had abandoned set prices for food.

“We try to say 50 cents to a dollar, but if people have only five cents and they’re standing there, we’ll give it to them,” she said.20060214iunjovncDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)Stephanie Vasquez, left, Diana Truong, Jackson Halphide and Bailey Scalzo try on fire hats as the Newport Beach Fire Department visits the blood drive and bake sale held for Trevor Dennis at Newport Heights Elementary.