The students at SHAPE American High School in Belgium are running a number of fund-raisers to benefit tsunami victims in South Asia. Among the projects are Valentines for Victim cards — a pack of 10 Valentines with tsunami-ravaged islands and hearts drawn on them. (Photo courtesy of DODDS)
When the news hit of the damage from the tsunami-struck nations Dec. 26, the first thing Hayley Heineken did was call for help.
The president of the SHAPE, Belgium, American High School contacted the school vice president Laura Fitzgerald to brainstorm how they could raise money to help the relief effort.
Once back at school from a holiday break, Heineken, along with the rest of her high school and the SHAPE International School raised nearly $4,000 in less than a week through different fund-raising efforts to send to the International Red Cross in support of areas ravaged by the tsunami.
“Our biggest fear is that money won’t be there when they need to rebuild their infrastructure, so we’re going to keep this going as long as we can,” Heineken said during a phone interview Thursday. “We’re coming up with ideas for taking it out to the community, because, so far, this has just been donations mainly provided by kids and teachers.”
With the help of SHAPE art teacher, Bill Root, the school raised $500 within the first 45 minutes, selling blue ribbons during lunchtime. This snowballed, and donations poured in, Root said.
An anonymous caller phoned the school and promised to match the school’s first $1,000, which was raised the next day.
Fund-raising efforts continued with a memorial service at the post cinema, where donations were taken for candles and lunch bags with images of the tsunami drawn by SHAPE elementary school students.
Then students sold Valentines for Victim cards, which is a pack of 10 Valentine cards with islands that were hit by the tsunami and a heart drawn on them.
Now, the school is conducting a draw-a-thon, where school artists receive pledges for every hour they draw. Once the draw-a-thon is complete, the artwork will be auctioned off.
“The students are really excited to be helping out. I’ve always taught them to think creatively and it’s wonderful they get to use this thinking in a real-life situation,” Root said.
