READER FEEDBACK
Post a commentElementary students help well wishes come true in Timbuktu
Elementary school students in the Downingtown Area School District are making the wishes of a village in Timbuktu come true through their school’s Well Wishes fundraising program.
Students and staff at Bradford Heights Elementary School are participating in a yearlong fundraiser to drill a well in a village located outside of Timbuktu in Mali at the base of the Sahara desert.
The on-site construction of the well project will be carried out by residents of the village and the Compassion Corps, a nonprofit organization based in Concord Township in Delaware County that is dedicated to carrying out humanitarian projects in northern Africa.
Coordinator of the Well Wishes program Liz Peck is a third-grade learning support teacher at Bradford Heights Elementary School and a parent of students in the school district.
Peck had the idea for the program as a way to enhance the students’ vision of community service and giving and to help the African village have immediate access to fresh water. After approaching the Bradford Heights home and school board with the idea they and made a commitment to the Compassion Corps to fundraise as much as the school could for one year.
The cost of a well is about $16,000, and so far Bradford Heights has raised about $4,000.
The Bradford Heights project kicked off with a water awareness assembly in March of last year to celebrate World Water Day. At the assembly, students compared water consumption in the United States to developing countries and learned about the importance of water and the difficulty people have accessing water in some countries.
To raise money, a wishing well was placed in a central location in the school where students and staff members deposited spare change. Each classroom also had water jugs to collect spare change for the effort.
“Our students do a lot of things locally in the area of giving back. I thought, why not expand our vision of giving, and see what impact our students could have on children on the other side of world,” Peck said.
Last spring, students took part in a Well-a-Thon walk where they filled half-gallon water jugs and trekked around a walking trail that surrounds the elementary school. Each classroom signed up to walk in the Well-a-Thon for about 20 minutes and donated walk sponsorship funds they collected to the Well Wishes program.
“Hauling the water gave students an awareness of what it’s like to carry water for a long distance. It put them in the shoes of the children and mothers in Africa who are carrying water this way each day,” Peck said.
The Well Wishes fundraiser will continue until March and the next major fundraising opportunity for Well Wishes will be a silent art auction featuring Chester County artists.
The Nov. 13 silent auction will feature art from over 30 different artists in the area. The art auction will be held at the elementary school at 7 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
In addition to participating in the Well Wishes program, students donated food to a pantry in Downingtown and participated in a “giving tree” project.
Compassion Corps director Jan Bean is inspired to see elementary students work on fundraising for the project.
“We really are thrilled to have the chance to make a difference for those who are suffering in some of Africa’s most desolate places. It’s life changing for us but we know that it means life to them,” Bean said.
The Compassion Corps that began in 2007 partners with residents in Tunisia, Mali, Senegal, Egypt, Morocco and Liberia to build and provide services to women and children in need. In previous projects, Compassion Corps worked with special needs children, orphans, taught vocational skills to women, held medical clinics and educational programs, and built wells to combat water shortages.
The organization is funded by American donors such as rotary clubs, businesses, organizations and schools just like Bradford Heights Elementary School and run by volunteers.
Currently the organization is expanding to serve women and children in Kenya and Uganda.
For more information on Compassion Corps, e-mail compassioncorps@gmail.com or call 610-574-7188.
Students and staff at Bradford Heights Elementary School are participating in a yearlong fundraiser to drill a well in a village located outside of Timbuktu in Mali at the base of the Sahara desert.
The on-site construction of the well project will be carried out by residents of the village and the Compassion Corps, a nonprofit organization based in Concord Township in Delaware County that is dedicated to carrying out humanitarian projects in northern Africa.
Coordinator of the Well Wishes program Liz Peck is a third-grade learning support teacher at Bradford Heights Elementary School and a parent of students in the school district.
Peck had the idea for the program as a way to enhance the students’ vision of community service and giving and to help the African village have immediate access to fresh water. After approaching the Bradford Heights home and school board with the idea they and made a commitment to the Compassion Corps to fundraise as much as the school could for one year.
The cost of a well is about $16,000, and so far Bradford Heights has raised about $4,000.
The Bradford Heights project kicked off with a water awareness assembly in March of last year to celebrate World Water Day. At the assembly, students compared water consumption in the United States to developing countries and learned about the importance of water and the difficulty people have accessing water in some countries.
To raise money, a wishing well was placed in a central location in the school where students and staff members deposited spare change. Each classroom also had water jugs to collect spare change for the effort.
“Our students do a lot of things locally in the area of giving back. I thought, why not expand our vision of giving, and see what impact our students could have on children on the other side of world,” Peck said.
Last spring, students took part in a Well-a-Thon walk where they filled half-gallon water jugs and trekked around a walking trail that surrounds the elementary school. Each classroom signed up to walk in the Well-a-Thon for about 20 minutes and donated walk sponsorship funds they collected to the Well Wishes program.
“Hauling the water gave students an awareness of what it’s like to carry water for a long distance. It put them in the shoes of the children and mothers in Africa who are carrying water this way each day,” Peck said.
The Well Wishes fundraiser will continue until March and the next major fundraising opportunity for Well Wishes will be a silent art auction featuring Chester County artists.
The Nov. 13 silent auction will feature art from over 30 different artists in the area. The art auction will be held at the elementary school at 7 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
In addition to participating in the Well Wishes program, students donated food to a pantry in Downingtown and participated in a “giving tree” project.
Compassion Corps director Jan Bean is inspired to see elementary students work on fundraising for the project.
“We really are thrilled to have the chance to make a difference for those who are suffering in some of Africa’s most desolate places. It’s life changing for us but we know that it means life to them,” Bean said.
The Compassion Corps that began in 2007 partners with residents in Tunisia, Mali, Senegal, Egypt, Morocco and Liberia to build and provide services to women and children in need. In previous projects, Compassion Corps worked with special needs children, orphans, taught vocational skills to women, held medical clinics and educational programs, and built wells to combat water shortages.
The organization is funded by American donors such as rotary clubs, businesses, organizations and schools just like Bradford Heights Elementary School and run by volunteers.
Currently the organization is expanding to serve women and children in Kenya and Uganda.
For more information on Compassion Corps, e-mail compassioncorps@gmail.com or call 610-574-7188.
