When Salem schools were facing budget problems last year and morale was low, Anna Ginnetti-Ricci wanted to do something to give teachers a boost.
"My heart was breaking with what was going on," she said. "Education is so important."
So the single mother of three, who performs as a singer and writes music and poetry as a hobby, revisited a song she had written a few years earlier honoring teachers.
"I couldn't hold on to it for myself," she said. "It belongs to the teachers. They do so much that no one appreciates."
Now the song, "I Wonder," is part of a larger campaign to support schools and teachers both locally and nationally.
Compact discs of the song, sung by Salem elementary school students and recorded last October, are being sold on www.iwonderteacherssong.org and in local stores. This month, students will canvass the city selling CDs door-to-door for $10 each.
Sales benefit the nonprofit I Wonder Teachers' Fund Inc., which supports the needs of local teachers. The specific use of the money has yet to be determined.
Ginnetti-Ricci and Paul Wennik, a former record company executive who has helped produce and promote the CD, are encouraging people to give them as gifts on National Teacher Appreciation Day on May 5.
They also suggest that schools around the country purchase CDs to use for their own fund-raising.
"We hope to bring 'I Wonder' nationally to Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres, Bill and Melinda Gates, and even our wonderful president and first lady," Ginnetti-Ricci said. "We have been told more and more by people who have been moved by the song that it should be the theme song for teachers everywhere."
The chorus of the song is:
I wonder if they know how great they are.
I wonder if they know because of them I can go far, to climb
the highest mountain or to reach the farthest star.
Without them, what person would I be?
Ginnetti-Ricci grew up in the North End of Boston, the daughter of an Italian-speaking mother educated only to the second grade. She was the first in her family to go to college, attending Salem State, and now works as a paraprofessional in the Salem schools.
"I owe everything I know to teachers," Ginnetti-Ricci said. "Our wonderful Salem children singers touchingly represent all the feelings of gratitude and thanks we all should feel toward our teachers."
William Cameron, Salem's superintendent of schools, said, "This is clearly a heartfelt effort on her part. She deserves a lot of credit."
He said the enthusiasm Ginnetti-Ricci and Wennik have brought to the project has sparked a grass-roots effort throughout the community.
Cameron said the school system is supportive of the project and of students selling the CDs. "It's a beneficial activity for the kids to participate in," he said. "We are doing what we can to make it a success in Salem."
"A lot of angels keep showing up on this project," said Wennik, 71, of Salem.
There have been financial donations. People have volunteered time and services, including Andrew Lypps, a Salem parent who works as an audio engineer and teacher at The New England Institute of Art. Lypps oversaw the making of the "I Wonder" CD, which includes audio and video, at the institute.
"I think their vision is great and they have the energy and desire to take that forward," Lypps said of Ginetti-Ricci and Wennik. "As a general vehicle for exposure and getting the word out, it will be really successful."
Kayleigh Doucette, a sales clerk at Cornerstone Books in Salem, said the store has been offering the CD for about a month and "it seems to be selling well. Everyone who sees it is supportive and glad someone is out there doing a fund-raising thing."
That includes Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll.
"I am so thankful for all that you are doing and pleased to hear of your continued success," she wrote in a letter to Wennik. "I agree this story should be told to as many people, school districts, and school officials as possible. Especially during these difficult financial times that many are struggling through, find-raising efforts like this become even more important."
For Ginnetti-Ricci, it's also much more.
"This project is the most incredible experience I have ever had," she said. "It's a situation where things in your life come together for a reason."
