Crafts for a cause
After visiting the REAL. LIFE. Exhibit, students from Centennial Middle School wanted to make a difference. Several of them began the Crafts for a Cause project. Students make things like personalized bracelets, necklaces, earrings, purses, hats, scarves, and cell-phone socks, and sell them to make a difference for children in crisis. At the end of the school year, the students had collected $200.
In keeping with the low overhead that is such a key part of Medical Teams International, the Crafts for a Cause project advertises that 95 percent of all profits will go directly to Medical Teams International. The students want their money to be used to meet the needs of Ugandan children who live in camps because of threats from the Lord’s Resistance Army, a fierce rebel force in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.
Several of the students attended a school board meeting, where they shared about what they experienced at the REAL. LIFE. Exhibit. They told the board that the exhibit showed them the real situations that many children live in around the world and inspired them to grow to become people who cared about the needs of others.
The board as well as the superintendent, Dr. Bob McKean, gave the students high praise for their concern for others and their sense of civic responsibility. The board also commended their teacher, John Tidswell, for his compassion. Inspired by a quotation from Anne Frank—“No one has ever become poor by giving”—Tidswell wants the students to see that it is very important to give, not just from our excess, but from the beginning of our wages. He hopes the students develop a heart for others.
The students’ report interested the school board because the Centennial School District mission is that “All students achieve high academic standards, graduate from high school, and become caring, contributing members of society.”
These caring students are using their creativity to make a difference in the lives of Ugandan children in crisis.
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