Henry Gordon Academy fundraising efforts in aid of Haiti

January 13th , 2010

On Wednesday January 13th, Mr. Tom Mugford (senior high English teacher), Mr. Philip Pretty (senior high Science teacher) and I were completely awestruck at the devastation being reported from Haiti on the National News.  Right away we knew this was a perfect opportunity to get our students involved and to help show them the rewards of stewardship.
Thursday morning I proposed to our students and staff that we hold a penny-drive on Monday January 18th.  Everybody was very eager and supportive.  Teachers guided the students through class discussions on what exactly had happened in Haiti and what this meant for the survivors.  Primary teachers dug deep into their inventive teaching skills to help young students grasp such concepts as earthquakes, relief fund and most of all that this horrible situation was here to stay and couldn't be easily overcome without our help and those of the relief workers.
Over the weekend the students worked hard to raise every bit of money they could.  The community of Cartwright as a whole got involved and local businesses helped too!  On Monday morning, all the students came together and one by one poured their funds into our canister and waited with anticipation to see how well we had done.  Student council and other volunteers stayed after school and amazingly rolled every coin in just over two hours!  When all was said and done the students of H.G.A. and their supportive community had successfully raised $1782.28.  Not a bad total for a school of just 82!  This was made even more bountiful by the governmental initiative to match our donation, dollar for dollar. I am very proud of our students.  They learned a lot about helping others and eagerly sacrificed some of their abundance to help those who have lost everything.