A Teacher Would Like Your Suggestions...

[Dinger]

about what me and my students can do when we are back to school (Jan. 3rd), to help the victims of this immeasurable tsunami tregedy. I know every litlle bit helps, but they need help NOW, and I want to help. It's frustrating.

[murielm99]

1. Talk to your principal first, to see what might be acceptable.

Some principals are snarkier than others.

Then, ask your students to talk about the tsunami.

See what they suggest, and if it falls within whatever guidelines your school has.

You could make suggestions for them to do things outside of their classroom, too, with their families, or other organizations they may be part of.

[Dinger]

3. I Will, Thanks

You make excellent suggestions. Since school is not in session right now, I have e-mailed the administrators, and my union reps. When I come back, I'll take it from there.

[dbt]

2. First thing, listen to your "kids."

Do a classic "brainstorming" session, with the big notepad on the easel. You know the drill: everybody throws out ideas, nobody gets to judge, the best ones rise to the top, etc.

It will put their minds in gear and give them some sense of power over the situation.

:hi:
dbt

[Dinger]

4. Thanks dbt

:) It'll be a good way to get the kids thinking again, after break. They are a sweet bunch, hearts of gold:)

[dbt]

5. I can tell you are a real Teacher by that one sentence.

Good on you!

[flygal]

14. and after seeing all the images on tv

they just might need to talk it out as well.

[dddem]

6. We organized a clothing drive

to raise money for the fire department to purchase thermal-imaging cameras for all the stations in our town.
Since the holidays are winding down, you may be hard-pressed to get people to donate money (many are probably tapped out!).
This might be a solution.
There are companies that will pay you per pound for used clothing (including shoes).
You could ask the kids to help their parents clean out closets and donate the clothing.
The company will provide a truck for you to fill, and you just find a day to arrange for folks to drop off their things. It's a great fundraiser, because it doesn't cost the donors anything, and it's a good excuse to get the kids to help out with some housecleaning.
We also advertised our drop off day, and made it a town-wide event. The kids showed up to pull bags out of peoples cars and load the truck. It really gave them a feeling of helping out.
After the event we had the local paper come out and take the kids' picture for the paper. It gave them a real sense of pride, and it helped a good cause. And best of all, we didn't have to hit up the parents (again) for monetary donations - the kids actually earned the money.
See if you can get your schools PTA to help out with the organizing the event - I'm very involved with PTO at my daughters school, and this was our project - with the help of the school's administration.
Good luck with your project - I thinks it's important to teach kids that they can help make a difference.

[JNelson6563]

10. Wow! Great work!

Nice job on teaching kids how to make a difference! :toast:

Julie

[Dinger]

19. dddem, Awesome!

This sounds absolutely wonderful!

[iconoclastic cat]

7. Some links on this dKos post:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/29/202425/20

[TalkingDog]

8. Small Business Owners

A friend of mine is a cobbler and owns a shoe store. I recently found out he sends all of his old unsellable stock to relief agencies.

You might look around your neighborhood to see who the small business owners are and tap them for some stock they can't move. At this point those folks need every kind of supply, so you would have a lot to choose from. It will serve several purposes :

-The obvious one of giving aid.
-The children learn that a community helps other communities.
-They learn that they are part of the community.
-They also might learn that some people choose not to give. That can be a real life lesson when you get past the "they are mean" reasons for not giving.
-They become part of a larger process. Charting what you have done and how their donation is progressing is also a way to get the visual learners involved and it reminds all of them of how far they've come. It's easy for them to forget what they did last week.

I hope this helps.

[salin]

9. Heard the head of UNICEF yesterday

they focus on needs of children... were talking about "kits" (cooking? health?) that were needed - things. Don't know if there is anything on their website that might give an indication of things that can be done. Given that you are working with students - relief efforts aimed at children might be a good hook.

If they don't have anything I would check out the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) they do quite a bit of relief work around that world, and would be suprised if they haven't sprung into action - and in ways that others can participate.

[tanyev]

11. Many relief agencies

are saying the most helpful thing NOW is money to groups that already have a presence there--Doctors w/o Borders, Oxfam, etc. Collecting stuff that will eventually get to them may be helpful in the future, but the most useful thing now is monetary donations.

[KharmaTrain]

12. Get Out A Map...Teach Their Cultures

Our media is notorious in putting a myopic spin on world events. It's how this Tsunami affects the U.S., not any perspective of those who are the most affected.

Most Americans couldn't have pronounced Sri Lanka, yet found it on a map, and probably still think Colomobo is a 70's TV series. They have no idea of it's culture and beauty, the people who live there, their history or anything that puts a more human face on this world. I see this more a problem now than ever.

While money and short-term short-attention span donations are a wonderful gesture, if we can learn more about the people most affected (not the tourists) and follow their progress/regress in the future.

[grumpy old fart]

17. Excellent post...and so true.

*'s lack of understanding, curiosity, depth, shows what can happen when you grow up thinking the center of the world is the local Wal-Mart.

[CBHagman]

13. Still chewing on ideas...

From what I hear, the people in the affected areas will need help for the long term, so your students can make a contribution after the initial weeks of work.

That said, I understand the real pressure is on now to provide funding to those groups, such as Doctors without Borders, who are on the ground now in the countries concerned. I understand that direct cash donations are highly desirable.

So you'll want to talk to your principal about how donations could be arranged, whatever way that's done.

That leaves you with various fundraising ideas -- bake sales, car washes, and so forth.

Then there are groups that are assembling food, toys, and climate-appropriate clothing for the people in those countries. Perhaps the kids would like to collect toys in good repair for the kids of Asia.

This might be a chance to hear from some leaders in your area who have roots in that part of the world. Is there a visible South Asian community in your town? Here in the D.C. area there's been a lot of discussion about Buddhist and Hindu temples being a center of activity and fundraising, and today in the paper I read about Amazon.com's staff, some of whom have roots in Asia, working to set up donation links.

You could also have the kids learn a little about nongovernmental organizations and what they do all over the world.

[LWolf]

15. I was thinking about fund raising,

and about how to choose the organization to send funds to. Doctors without borders is a good choice, imo.

I was thinking about a penny drive; even our youngest can participate in that.

Our PTA does a fundraiser, selling hot chocolate in cold weather and juice in hot weather. They've already got the market there, but we might be able to do something similar.

[sandnsea]

16. Adopt a town

I really liked Clinton's idea of countries taking responsibility for a specific Asian country, for the long term. So we don't forget in a few months. Maybe your class or school could adopt a town and do something once a month. Eventually there could be letters and other cultural exchanges. They could learn why aid is an ongoing thing from the US, and maybe even how building bridges makes us more secure and things like that.

Also, I remember when my home burned down two weeks before Christmas. The local school did a fundraiser and I was just shocked to receive checks for several hundred dollars each (elementary and high school). These sweet kids emptied their piggy banks, went above and beyond. I actually felt horrible taking the money, but they all assured me it would be more hurtful to the kids to not take it. It's amazing how much kids are willing to give.

[two gun sid]

18. Fund raisers, bake sales etc. all good

but, in my opinion, teaching the children about where the disaster happened and how it happened and to whom it happened could be the most important thing you can do. If 20-30 more people realize that natural disasters happen as a result of nature and not as a curse from God maybe 20-30 people will be less likely to buy the baloney that is spewed from Falwell, Robertson, etc. I don't mean to imply that you attempt to persuade them to a progressive view of the world. Just give them the knowledge to make up their own minds. The more you know about the world the more progressive you will be.

[bmbmd]

20. link for dehydration plant / lesson idea

This is actually "mrs." bmbmd. The Breedlove Dehydration plant in Lubbock, Texas receives veg. left after "machine" harvest and produces dehydrated meals for 4 cents a serving. An article in the Lubbock AJ just this morn. states they are trying to raise the funds to ship to Asia. This is an excellent facility and can be found at http://www.breedlove.org/ Please look it up.

I am also a teacher (art/currently jr. high) and plan to return to class next week talking about humanity in need - globally and locally. We will discuss the organizations such as Breedlove and others that help on this global level but also in our own community.
We will brainstorm on how we might help the global effort and then we turn our attention to finding needs in our community and school. We should help these kids become givers, not takers.