By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHELSEA — As news broke Friday of yet another setback at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, elementary school students at Chelsea Prep worked to raise money for their tragedy-stricken peers in Japan.
The P.S. 33 school community kicked off their efforts to fold 1,000 paper cranes Thursday morning, passing out fliers on a nearby street corner to advertise their efforts.
Inside the school, the crane folding station manned by bilingual classroom teacher Rocio Sorribas, who coordinated the event, will remain in action until 4 p.m. Friday.
Check donations and gifts of $1 per folded crane will be given to the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Fund and the Japanese Red Cross.
In Tokyo Friday, authorities announced that three men working inside the No. 3 reactor were exposed to 10,000 times the normal amount of radiation. The news heightened fears that there may be a breach in the reactor's containment vessel.
P.S. 33 parent Edith Rivera donated $5 for her daughter Maria, who often asks questions about the tsunami and expresses fears a catastrophe like that could occur in New York.
"You never know when things can happen to you," said Rivera, a 34-year-old Chelsea resident. "I have five children, so my heart really goes out to the children over there."
