French Prairie Middle School raises $1500 for Asia disasters

When the students of French Prairie Middle School (Woodburn, Oregon) heard about the four disasters that hit Asia in the fall of 2009—four 30-foot tsunami waves hit the Samoan Islands, an earthquake rocked Indonesia, and floods deluged both the Philippines and southern India—they knew they wanted to take action and make a difference.

The previous school year, seventh-grade students from the school toured the REAL. LIFE. Exhibit, stood under the 25-foot tsunami wave in the exhibit, and learned about what real life was like for the children of the tsunami that ravaged twelve countries in 2004. The students saw the children’s drawings about the day the tsunami hit their villages, and they were touched by the children’s courage.

So, when another tsunami hit the Samoan Islands in September 2009, the whole school responded. The students organized a fundraiser and in three weeks raised an amazing $1500 for Medical Teams International’s Asia Disaster Relief Fund. The faculty and staff promised the students that for every $250 raised, the faculty and staff would do crazy things. And they were true to their word.

At a celebratory assembly, students threw pies and whipped cream in teachers’ faces, decorated seventh-grade teacher Amy Ramirez as an ice cream sundae, and even shaved some teachers’ heads.

Principal Eric Swenson joined the celebration dressed as Michael Jackson and danced a solo, to the hoots of an enthusiastic student body.

The money the school raised will be used for rebuilding the health facilities destroyed by the disaster, providing dental care, improving health of mothers and children, and completing water and sanitation projects.

French Prairie Middle School has made a huge difference—and had a lot of fun in the process.