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Students Help Beloved Teacher After Fire

CARBONDALE — Some students in Lackawanna County got a chance to help a teacher who lost everything in a house fire. The Carbondale Area teacher has not be...

CARBONDALE -- Some students in Lackawanna County got a chance to help a teacher who lost everything in a house fire.

The Carbondale Area teacher has not been able to return home since that fire in march.

His students presented him with a check Friday night in an effort to get him back on his feet.

The proud students of the Carbondale Area School District happily handed over a check for $1,000 to a teacher they say is much loved.

The money is to help get their chorus teacher, Chris Schuster, back on his feet.

A fire gutted his home here on Suscon Road in Pittston Township on March 22 destroying much of the house and everything inside. A fire marshal ruled the fire an accident.

“Everything`s gone. It’s been tough, but taking one day at a time,” Schuster said.

“No one should have to go through something like this alone. It`s a hard thing to get through and there`s no point of going through it alone if you have someone who can help you,” freshman Jaime Davis said.

The students and their parents collected the money through a fundraiser at a restaurant last month.

“The place was packed right from the very beginning and it was really nice to see how many people actually cared about him,” said parent Linda Davis.

Schuster’s home remains boarded up and he says it will take a lot of work before he can return home, yet he remains optimistic.

“[I’ll] hopefully rebuild, you know? It`s going to take a while, again, one day at a time,” said Schuster.

These students say they just wanted to do something for a teacher who does so much for them.

“He`s such a nice person and he cares and he`s always there. He`s easy to talk to. He`s always right there to support us,” Davis said.

“Mr. Schuster is a fantastic guy. He`s just unfortunately down on his luck for a long time now. I feel bad for the guy. I`m glad we could help out in some way,” said freshman Cody Malaker.

“It feels good. It`s nice knowing we can help him and just seeing his face and it`s really nice,” said senior Kaitlyn Thomas.

The high school is also running a fundraiser for Chris Schuster through a t-shirt sale.

Money collected from that will be given to Schuster at the chorus concert on May 28.

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