After half a year of opening the eyes of my third graders to the plight of people less fortunate than them, they decided it would be really great to give back some how. I was thrilled.
I introduced them to brainstorming and we came up with tons of wonderful ideas. Then narrowing it down, they decided that clean water was something that everyone needs and where they wanted to put all their effort.
So I did some research and found a bunch of organizations that work around the globe bringing clean water to folks in need. We reviewed the sites and decided on Water.org.
Then we brainstormed a fun team name and voila, the Spinning Tornadoes were born:
Spinning Tornadoes;
Spinning around the world filling buckets with fresh water for those in need.
Next came how to raise funds. And my super creative third graders came up with a Water Bucket Carrying Contest. Then we added a walk-a-thon (absolutely foreign concept here in Myanmar) and bake sales. Our goal is to raise US $2,500.00 by the end of January.
Of course it has not helped that I have been sick for the last 8 weeks – but I was alive enough a couple months ago to explain it all to the other teachers and send letters home explaining what we were doing and what in the world a walk-a-thon is. I’m still not sure the concept is completely getting through, but I think we’ll have a decent showing.
Our bake sales turned out to be donation from bakeries, sales. The kids themselves have so many “helpers” (maids, nannies, drivers etc.) that they simply couldn’t comprehend actually baking something at home and bringing it in. Odd I know, but I haven’t been able to get any of them to do it.
The walk-a-thon is in two weeks. The water bucket carrying competition is in January. Our bake sales revenue (3 weeks worth) so far has brought in at bout US $50.00. So we have a long way to go.
I started a fundraising site on the Water.org website. If you have any interest in helping us out simply go here and you can make a donation with a credit card. And please, spread the word – we need all the help we can get! Thanks!
