Student-made calendars raise money for charity
Published Monday December 1st, 2008
MIRAMICHI - The James M. Hill World Issues class isn't just learning about the struggles of those in other countries this term — they are helping to tackle those problems head on.
The students came up with a school project this winter to raise money for the Spread the Net campaign, a charity raising money to buy mosquito nets in Africa where malaria kills 1.3 million every year. The disease is the leading cause of death for children under the age of five.
This year the JMH class is selling student-created calendars and t-shirts to raise the money.
"Every net makes a difference. Sometimes five children will share one net," said student Melissa MacDonald.
Each month of the calendar will represent a different world issue the students researched in their class.
"One month is poverty, another is hunger, religious prosecution and animal cruelty," said MacDonald.
She did research for the month on cancer, providing stats for the calendar while learning more about the disease for herself.
"It's a way to raise money and spread the word about other issues at the same time," said their teacher, Tyson Theriault.
The artwork itself came from volunteers in the art class.
Twelve paintings are now completed, one of Africa juxtaposed by the easily recognizable red ribbon, a malnourished, beaten dog, a woman clasping her religious cross.
The original paintings will be sold as well, the profits going to pay for the printing of the calendars.
That way, said Theriault, every dollar raised from the calendars themselves will go directly to the cost of a net.
"Each calendar will be $10 and each net costs $10, so every calendar sold is a net for someone who needs it."
And the project itself has not only taught the class about the plight of others, says student Marley Curran.
"I already knew about the malaria epidemic, but the class has made me more aware of what we can do to help others," she said.
Curran is taking on another project, too. She, along with Mark Loggie, Matthew Mitchell, Arron Malley, Schacel Despres and Andrew Tibdey, are busy working on a documentary about the campaign itself. A Maritime film producer has come to Miramichi to help them shoot it.
"It's all about the cause of malaria and how to prevent it," said Curran. "And it looks at our society — how ignorant we are, and what we can do."
Theriault got the idea to get his kids involved with the charity last year.
"We did the Mr. JMH show to raise money," he said.
That show consisted of a fun night where the boys dressed up as girls, shaved their legs, and displayed their talents in a pageant. The tickets were a hit.
He said the show was such a success he is planning on doing that again too.
"One term we'll do the calendar and then next term we'll do Mr. JMH."
Expectations are the calendar will be published in the next couple of weeks.
They will go on sale at the mall where the students will volunteer their time at a booth selling them.
Until then the kids aren't wasting any time finding ways to raise awareness and money just in their own school. The class takes turns manning a booth in the main lobby at JMH selling T-shirts with the logo "Empower the people." Proceeds from these shirts, featuring the African continent and a raised fist, will also go to the Spread the Net campaign.
More News
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
Comments (2)
All comments are subject to the site Terms of Use. For a full commenting tutorial click here.
Our editorial team relies on filtering technology and our visitor community to identify inappropriate comments. In the event that a site user has submitted offensive content that has evaded our filter, please select the option to Flag As Inappropriate presented within the comment. Thank you for helping to keep this site clean.