TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK

DOHA STUDENTS, staff and families of ACS Doha International School recently launched a fundraising drive to support the Unicef project ‘Schools for School-in-a-Box’, initiated by the supply division of the United Nations Children’s Fund and designed to provide access to education for disadvantaged children all over the world.

The charity drive, proposed by the ACS Doha Student Councils and organised in collaboration with the Parent School Organisation (PSO) and teachers of the school, was created to raise money for the charity fund in conjunction with Unicef’s World Education Games.

“When the Omani adventurer Nabil al Busaidi, the first Arab to walk to the magnetic North Pole, came to talk to our school, he inspired the students to raise money for those less fortunate. We agreed to find a charity to support his goal of collecting $1,000,000 for charity from schools he visited in the Arabian Gulf. The lower and middle school student councils chose Unicef as the charity to support,” said Robert Boehm, Grade 5 teacher and lower school student council coordinator.

The ACS Doha community enthusiastically took on the cause and hosted numerous fundraising campaigns including multimedia presentations to the students and a bake sale. In one week, the school was able to raise QR11,000 through the generous contributions of parents, teachers and students of the school, exceeding their target goal of QR8,600.

“This is a fantastic collaborative effort of both the student council and the PSO.

We were able to drive greater support and communicate with other parents to solicit their contributions towards the project via email, social media and through the student councils,” Hasna Nada, president of the ACS Doha School PSO said.

Middle School Principal Dale Taylor said, “The support from the student council and PSO was not only vital but also greatly appreciated in ensuring a successful fund raising exercise. The charity drive, which was ACS Doha’s first, allowed everyone to participate in a worthwhile activity and give back to the global community. Providing education to children throughout the world, no matter what their circumstances, is a much needed initiative and one that our students and teachers greatly support.” Commenting on the charity drive, middle school student, Olivier Perry, said, “Generosity is a key element of our philosophy. It feels really good to be part of a cause that helps Unicef bring education to the doorsteps of disadvantaged children in disaster-hit areas of the world.” The donations will be sent to the Unicef which, in turn, will use the financial resources to purchase boxes that contain educational supplies and materials for a teacher and 40 students per box. The supplies include 80 carrier bags, 48 crayons, 200 exercise books, 100 pencil sharpeners, 144 pencils and 120 erasers. Also included in the box are 144 slates pencils, 100 rulers, 40 safety scissors, 40 student slates, 600 chalk sticks and other teaching materials.