Nimitz is one of several Bay Area schools that participated in a unique "adopt-a-tent" drive where for every $100 raised, the children would be able to sponsor a tent that would house at least 20 people in the earthquake-ravaged region. Overall, Bay Area schools have raised more than $21,000 as part of this effort.

It's estimated that 3.2 million people have been left homeless in the region because of the deadly quake. The current official death toll stands at 83,000-plus and more than 69,000 people have been injured. With the onset of winter, the numbers of dead and injured are expected to increase because of lack of proper shelters.

Nimitz, on the border of Sunnyvale and Cupertino, is the only school in the Cupertino Union School District that joined the drive.

Ambreen Jamal, a local Cupertino resident and a Pakistani native, had heard about the "adopt-a-tent" initiative and brought it to the notice of the school district.

"Nimitz was the only school I heard from that was willing to hold the drive at their school," Jamal says.

Nimitz is one of the five Title I schools in the Cupertino school district and the one with the highest number of students coming from low-income families. These are children who qualify for government-sponsored free and reduced lunches.

Dale Jones, the principal at Nimitz, recalls taking the idea to the student council.

"Our student council has representatives from the first through fifth grades. The council decided to kick-start the fundraiser with $100 they had left over from another program," Jones says.

Jones says the school then held a coin drive, and the children brought in their piggybank money.

"I think this was a truly wonderful way for our students to show that they care about what is happening in the rest of the world and not just their own communities," he says.

The idea of children in the U.S. adopting a tent to provide shelter for a family halfway across the world was the brainchild of Fremont resident Zareen Khan. Khan was born in Karachi, Pakistan, but has lived in the U.S. for several years. She says she was deeply moved by the sights she was seeing on television. "Watching this so close to home, where entire towns and villages were destroyed, really got to me," she says.

Khan figured out that more than 120,000 children had not received shelter or aid and were still sleeping in the biting cold under open skies.

"I knew something had to be done quickly before winter set in," Khan says. So she decided to involve children from her local community in Fremont to find a solution to the problem.

James Leitch and Weibel elementary schools in Fremont together raised close to $6,000.

With the positive response she was receiving, Khan posted fliers for the adopt-a-tent drive on local Pakistani websites. Soon schools in other areas picked up the project. Harker Middle, a private school in San Jose, raised $12,500 in two weeks. Addison Elementary in Palo Alto raised close to $3,000. The schools are sending their checks to organizations such as UNICEF and Save the Children, which have volunteers already working in the earthquake-hit zones.

For more information on the adopt-a-tent drive, go to www.opensiliconvalley.com or www.saquake.org.