Thursday, February 23, 2012

Giving Back

Today the ISB second grade classes purchased books to help a Thai school that had its library destroyed by the recent floods. This is another example of ISB's good work in trying to help the surrounding community which is much less fortunate.

 Over the past few weeks, the second graders have been raising money to buy books. They were encouraged to earn the money themselves. Some did household chores, some gave massages to their parents and still others had lemonade sales. Aleena did some extra work around the house and she also made some bead jewelry which she sold. Each of the six classes had a goal to raise 10,000 baht (~$667) for a total goal of 60,000 baht($2,000). The kids raised nearly 120,000 baht, nearly doubling their goal. Today the kids went to a book sale in order to pick out books for the kids. Each child had enough to buy four or five books.

 The classrooms divided their money evenly among their students, and the students could then pick out and buy books for the Thai school. Volunteer parents, of which I was one, acted as the sales clerks in collecting money from the kids. It was bedlam as the kids crowded around the tables looking for books.  They were all thrusting their money at us, eager to make their purchases.  In between collecting money and quizzing the second grades on how much change they should get, I managed to snap a few photos.

The kids all seemed to have a great time.  Not surprisingly, in the end, the kids had enough money to buy all of the books at the book sale.

On Monday, the second graders will visit the school to deliver the books.  It's great that they get to put faces with the work that they did.  I hope it something that will give Aleena and her classmates a sense of accomplishment and instill in them a sense of how lucky they are, and how they can make a real difference in the lives of other people.

AP9Z9025

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