The J.J. Pearce High School swim team hosted a Swim-A-Thon and raised about $18,000 for their beloved custodian, who needed to pay medical bills.
The J.J. Pearce High School swim team hosted a Swim-A-Thon to raise money and help their beloved custodian Van Hua Le with his medical bills and recoup lost wages.swim team noticed when a familiar face was missing from campus.
Their beloved custodian Van Hua Le was suffering serious health issues, leaving him out of work for weeks without pay.on Jan. 16, swimming laps non-stop for more than 4,000 meters — more than two miles — and raised about $18,000 for Le, said coach Eric Ewing. Classmates, alumni and parents rallied behind the effort by seeking donations and chipping in to bring the event to life. “It just sort of grew and grew and grew,” said Ewing, who also teaches finance. “I always tell our kids, ‘The best way to feel good is to do something good for somebody else.’”The J.J. Pearce High School swim team hosted a Swim-A-Thon to raise money and help their beloved custodian Van Hua Le with his medical bills and recoup lost wages.At the end of the event, Le arrived at the indoor pool where a crowd of students and parents had gathered. One parent, who knows Vietnamese, translated for Le what the team had done. Le started weeping and embraced Ewing, as the parents and students wiped their eyes alongside him.The team also surprised him with a new car and bicycle. Le lives about six miles away from the school, and his commute can take about an hour on bike and even longer on foot. Before the Swim-A-Thon, the school district offered Le a job at a school that was closer to Le’s home. But Le turned it down, citing his fondness for J.J. Pearce. “ somebody who wanted to be where we are that badly and is such a good worker and such a good human,” Ewing said. “We just thought we should help.”The J.J. Pearce High School swim team hosted a Swim-A-Thon to raise about $18,000 for their beloved custodian Van Hua Le.While the original goal was to help Le with his medical bills and recoup his lost wages, the effort became about something more, Ewing said. The team wanted to show Le: “how many people at J.J. Pearce and in the community cared about him,” Ewing said.The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas. The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.Jessica Ma covers education at The Dallas Morning News. She previously had reporting stints at The Boston Globe, The Chicago Sun-Times and The Sacramento Bee. She is a recent graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied journalism, American studies and political science.Dallas received hundreds of complaints about animals outside during freezing temperatures
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