By Ali Moore
St. James Catholic School
4th grade teacher
A small place can make a big difference.
The fourth grade class of 12 students at St. James Catholic School in Augusta decided to react in a big way to the devastation in Haiti over the past couple of weeks. Six boys and six girls worked together to plan a service project to get the school of 87 students involved. They chose the Catholic Relief Services as their destination for donations because nearly 100 percent of the proceeds go directly to the cause.
Flyers and a big poster were also constructed to promote the event. The stipulations for school on Jan. 26, 2010 were that students could bring at least $2 to wear jeans and a red shirt (students normally wear uniforms). By the end of the day, they had raised $637.56. With additional dollars that came in on Wednesday and with the addition of the Jeans Day that was held on Jan. 12, the fourth graders raised a total of $720.32.
Turning the service project into a math lesson, students were told that $8 could feed a single person for a week and $40 could feed a family for a week in Haiti. When averaged out, it was estimated that each student donated about $8.50.
The fourth graders thought it was pretty “cool” to think that every student in the school fed a person in Haiti for an entire week.
St. James is proud of the stewardship and compassion that the students have shown and wants to thank all those who helped with the donations.
Augusta, Kan. —
