Jefferson students’ poems raise money for school in Guyana
The students of Jefferson Township Middle School’s six blue team connected with children in Guyana and, according to the sponsoring organization’s director, made a real difference in their lives. Although the students raised over $1,000 and collected donations of clothing and school supplies to send, the real support they were told was in the personal letters they wrote to the children in that South American country.
"I can’t even begin to tell you how thankful I am for what you have done," said Sandra Shivdat, director of Restoring Hope International, at an assembly on June 13. "These kids in Guyana now know that, when things get bad, there is someone thousands of miles away in America that cares about them."
The multi-part project came about when the students learned about the Good Hope Learning Center in Guyana through sixth grade language arts teacher Maria Kucinski. The center was built and is run by Restoring Hope International, and it is in the South American country of Guyana. Guyana is a country with a poverty rate of 43.2 percent, and a literacy rate of 71 percent. The students felt these children needed their help, and they reached out through Shivdat’s organization to do so.
Kucinski started things off by selling bagels to other teachers to raise money. The six blue team collected supplies such as pencils, notebooks and clothing from other middle school students and their families. Perhaps most uniquely, all the six blue students wrote original poems and contributed them to create a poetry book which they sold to raise money. They raised $1,021.88 to donate directly to the center.
"The book contains all kinds of poems that the students worked really hard to write," Kucinski said. "It has haikus, limericks, free style poems and a lot more. They are really wonderful."
Shivdat said the center serves children from nine to 16 years old. They use the center as an oasis amidst hard lives, and her organization’s motto is "Fighting poverty through education." She was very grateful for the money and supplies donated, but she made it very clear that the personal contact was the real gift of support that the students in Guyana really treasured.
Each student wrote a personal letter and established a pen pal relationship with another child in Guyana. The response was overwhelming as the six blue students received over 80 letters back, each one written personally and handwritten by their pen pal. The letters from both sides were personal and conversational, and the ones from South America were tinged with gratitude.
"You have made a difference in a child’s life," Shivdat told the students. "Nothing can ever take that away from them. A world has hope because of kids like you."
The presentation on June 13 featured Shivdat and her husband Freddie, and it took place in the middle school cafeteria. Shivdat handed out the reply letters to each of the students, and the students presented her with a giant mock check for the money raised by selling the poem books. The students gathered there were obviously excited and proud of what they had done. Kucinski was joined by other teachers and school administrators, including Principal Jeanne Howe.
"I think this was a great way for our students to learn about other cultures and help other people outside of their community," Howe said. "This is a great start on making them global citizens."
The students all said they planned to keep corresponding with their new pen pals, and Shivdat promised to facilitate their communications. Ongoing fundraising and donations will also be encouraged, and there are more poem books for sale. Anyone interested should contact the middle school for details.
