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Kids Lend a Hand

By Jeremy Caplan

Can you imagine collecting 75,000 coins in just five days? That is what a class of fourth graders did last week at Woodland Elementary School in Johnson City, Tennessee. They are just a few of the many kids around the country who are finding ways to help the victims of the tsunami that hit South Asia on December 26.

Woodland's Give Change, Change Lives project started on the first day the students returned from their winter vacation. Chris Miller, 10, wanted his class to help. "I had never seen a tsunami," Chris told TFK. "The amount of damage surprised me."

With guidance from their teacher, Mary Nell McIntyre, Chris and his classmates decided to gather a coin to honor each person who had died in the disaster. (More than 157,000 people have lost their lives.) Parents, kids and neighbors chipped in coins. The project isn't finished yet, but within a week, the class had already collected $1,695.68! The students will send the money to UNICEF and Interchurch Medical Assistance.

Some other aid projects were huge, others were smaller. Eighth graders in Wenatchee, Washington, had been raising money for a class trip for more than a year. They voted to give it to the Red Cross. In Lincoln, Nebraska, Kyle Sinagra, 8, sold cupcakes and donated $62.12 in earnings to relief funds. In Sammamish, Washington, Stephen McClure, 12, raised money by selling hot chocolate.

Roshan Baddeliyanage, who was born in Sri Lanka and now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, built a website to encourage contributions. "Our basement is so full of clothes, you can barely walk," Roshan told TFK. "I'd like to go to Sri Lanka so I can hand out the clothes myself."

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