Richmond Public School students do chores for charity
Posted Feb 5, 2010 By Sarah Kelford
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EMC News - Students at Richmond Public School made a promise to complete chores at home to raise money for Haiti.
Anil Jhalli, Orleans EMC
East end residents voiced their opinions as the National Capital Commission held an open house on the future of the Greenbelt at Louis Riel High School last week.
After the four-day campaign the students brought in $4,153.45 for the Red Cross.
What the students didn't know was that until Feb. 12, the government is matching all donations for Haiti, bringing the school's grand total to more than $8,300.
"There are 198 students here," said principal Wally Stagg. "We did marvelous."
Kindergarten teacher Jeananne Gilchrist, who organized the fundraiser, explained that the school was trying to teach the students about empathy and the global community.
The campaign, called "Hands for Haiti," emphasized that anyone can do anything with their hands.
"We have to do our part to help the needs of the world," Gilchrist said was a message sent to the students. "We have to be empathetic to those less fortunate."
Representatives from the Red Cross accepted the donation on Wednesday, Jan. 27. During the presentation students watched a slideshow that included pictures of Haiti before and after the earthquakes. The school did explain that earthquakes like that don't happen here so students were not afraid.
Gilchrist noted that on the theme of "helping hands," the theme song for the campaign was "With My Own Two Hands" by Ben Harper, which states "I can change the world with my own two hands, make a better place with my own two hands."
To raise the money students wrote their parents a letter or drew a picture of what they were going to do at home.
Some students made their beds and lunches or did the laundry and dishes and one student even gave his mom a massage - another collected his savings jars full of pennies and nickels and donated it all.
"It made it about the kids, (this donation) was something they've earned," said Stagg, adding that the school also held a "hat day," where students could pay $1 to wear their hats all day.
"This community is very generous," said Gilchrist, noting that on average each student raised $21. "This (fundraiser) showed that we can do things."
