A couple of months ago, our class decided that we wanted to participate in a service learning project. We talked about several things we could do but finally decided on something related to water. After hearing news reports and reading about the earthquake in Haiti in January, we knew that many people there did not have clean, safe water. We wondered if there was anything we could do to help.
Ms. Willis told us about a foundation called "A Glimmer of Hope" that makes a difference in the lives of some of the poorest people in the world. We found out that one of the things they do is provide materials for villagers in rural Ethiopia to build water wells so that they can have safe, clean water. We decided that we wanted to help fund a water well, and we chose "A Well of Hope" as the name of our project.
We came up with the idea of having a book sale. We gave our school community the opportunity to donate a gently used book(s) to our cause. After many generous donations of books, we began to organize the books, make posters for our sale, and otherwise prepare for the big days.
The sale was held on Thursday, May 20 and Friday, May 21 at our school. Kindergartners and first graders purchased books on Thursday and second and third graders on Friday. We had an overwhelming response and the total amount earned in those two days was $1064.82. Ms. Marianne Linde, the director of marketing for "A Glimmer of Hope" came to Great Oaks Elementary on Wednesday, May 26 to accept our check. It was an honor and privilege to work with this foundation.
