When he was patrolling the mean streets of Madisonville as a police officer, Matt Conley never put a dress, make up and high heels on, not even if he was undercover. But then he entered the truly dangerous profession of being a middle school teacher and all bets were off.

No, a roving gang of sixth graders didn't hold him down and doll him up. Their plan was much more devious than that. They decided to collect money for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, donating it through the Monroe County Red Cross, and Conley, knowing a little extra encouragement never hurts, offered to "dress up" if they raised a certain amount of money.

Actually, according to a well-placed source (his mother), Conley at first offered to shave his head but word is his wife nixed that idea. Then Conley decided to give the students a sliding scale of encouragement.

If they raised $100 he would put on heels; $250 and he would add make-up to the ensemble. If they reached $500, he'd throw on the dress. If they managed to collect $1,000,  he would get on stage, fully dressed and perform Beyonce's "Single Ladies" for the gathered student body.

You can bet the students were doing all they could to hit $1,000, while Conley undoubtedly thought $999 would be a perfect total. But in the time frame they had the students raised $630. A nice amount for a country where $10 is considered a lot of money. And it also guaranteed Conley arrived one day wearing a dress, makeup and high heels.

Conley is humble about what he did. In fact, he doesn't like to talk about it at all. Ask him and he'll gesture toward the students and say it was all their doing, that they're the ones who deserve the glory.

"They made this happen," he said. "They went around the school every day and collected the money."
The student's teacher, Mrs. Jerry Bledsoe, said the students were excited about the prospect of raising the money.

"They immediately started collecting pennies, nickels, dimes from the students," she said. "I was really touched by the determination of the students to complete the task and meet the need. I am very proud of them. Every day they wanted to know how much we had as the total increased. This is a perfect example of children becoming leaders in our community and showing the world they care."
County wide, Monroe County Red Cross Director Denny Westby said donations since the Haiti earthquake had exceeded anything he'd ever seen in a two-month period.

"We took in $8,794 in January and February," he said. "That's way above what we normally take in during that length of time. Monroe County has really stepped up and helped during a bad time."

michael.thomason@advocateanddemocrat.com | 442-4575