After the tragic events of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our students felt a need to do something to assist the citizens of Ukraine whose lives had been dismantled. After following the four-step Design for Change process, the students determined that raising funds to purchase medical supplies would be the best option to help. But, what was most amazing about the project was the merging of this project with another team's idea of promoting more inclusion in our school through a Cultural Fair. Thus, the Ukrainian Charity Team was formed!
The students planned and executed a week-long celebration/fundraising activities culminated in the pay-to-enter Cultural Fair. The first event was a "pie-a-teacher" contest in which the students could pay $1 for 5 tickets to put into the jar of a teacher they wanted to pie. The 3 teachers with the most tickets at the end of the week were then selected to be pied at the Cultural Fair. The students also held a blue & yellow day where students and staff members paid to represent the flag of Ukraine with their blue & yellow clothing. But most pivotal of all was the Cultural Fair which took a month of planning out the booths, promotions, and logistics.
In the end, we were able to earn over $1,500 to purchase medical supplies for Ukraine!
Developing Empathy
After the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, many students wanted to do something to help the people whose lives had been ruined. As the months went on, many people forgot the war was still going on, but we kept reminding our school about the perils that thousands are still faced with each day because of this invasion.
Ways To Inspire Our Community
We had brainstormed several ways to fundraise for the Ukrainian citizens that did not pan out. Chief among them was setting up a concession stand at the local high school sporting events. Though we felt it would raise lots of money, trying to pull everything together became too unrealistic.
We also attempted to reach out to the medical businesses in Cromwell to see if they would lend a hand but were often faced with rejection or zero follow-throughs.
Using Their Talents to Promote Their Cause
The students planned and executed a week-long celebration/fundraising activities that culminated in the pay-to-enter Cultural Fair. The first event was a "pie-a-teacher" contest in which the students could pay $1 for 5 tickets to put into the jar of a teacher they wanted to pie. The 3 teachers with the most tickets at the end of the week were then selected to be pied at the Cultural Fair. The students also held a blue & yellow day where students and staff members paid to represent the flag of Ukraine with their blue & yellow clothing. But most pivotal of all was the Cultural Fair which took a month of planning out the booths, promotions, and logistics.
In the end, we were able to earn over $1,500 to purchase medical supplies for Ukraine!
Ultimately, merging the idea of a Cultural Fair with the charity drive was the most successful, though even on that topic we constantly ran into differences of opinions I how best to implement it. We received lots of feedback that we would not get many visitors if we held an event after school due to the low turn-out from past after-school events. We kicked around the idea of doing the event during school hours and making it optional to pay to get into the fair. However, ultimately, we stuck with our gut of holding the after-school Cultural Fair.
We also ran into the issue of some of the student-led booths dropping out at the last minute but were able to overcome this with some help from our staff members who took up their mantle.
Inspiring Others
We had the CMS student news film the Charity Event(see attached video file-though I'm not sure if it is uploading correctly, I can resend via email if needed!) to show that all students have the ability to plan and run an event to literally save the lives of other people!
Our principal was so impressed with the event that she now wants the Cultural Fair to be an annual event on an even grander stage than it was this year!
We did reach out to the local newspapers, but unfortunately, they never finalized plans to come and speak with us before the school year ended.
I'm amazed that even though we're only in middle school we were able to raise so much money for the event. Many adults doubted we could put together the cultural fair in such a small window of time, but it ended up as a huge success! It just goes to show you that with some time and effort anything is possible. I'm impressed at how well we were able to work together as well. With over 25 students working together, I thought there wouldn't be enough to do, or that not everyone would contribute, but each and every day all of us gave everything we had to make the world a better place.
