Small-Town Heroes Host Dinner for Their Friends
Some of the food in the African section. The food was set up by continents: Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Europe, and even Antarctica! (The preschoolers sell snocones for Antarctica.)
Judy Huynh first heard about RESPECT two years ago while she was taking an online class through the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN). She and her students got involved and have been a part of the RESPECT's Letter Exchange Program with Mohomou Refugee School in Guinea ever since. Last year, Judy and her students raised $1,000 (US) to help Mohomou construct their new computer lab, and her church gladly matched the donation.
Judy is a sixth grade teacher and the Service Learning Coordinator at Palo Community Schools in Palo, Michigan. For the past three years, her students have organized an International Dinner in their school gym. This year, the 4th Annual International Dinner will be held on May 20th. The event is a celebration of diversity and global awareness. The students contact local restaurants for donations or make their own food to bring to the event. Although the event is free, the students ask for donations to help bring awareness to the issues close to their hearts.
Two of the posters that were on display at the International Dinner. The RESPECT one has copies of some of our pen pal letters and photos.
All the proceeds from the first two dinners were donated to Heifer International, which delivers food to the hungry. Last year, the students raised their half of the money donated to Mohomou through the Dinner. The rest was donated to Heifer.
In addition to the annual Dinners, the students also set up a World Market in honor of the event. The students sell crafts from SERRV, a fair trade organization, as well as jewelry their pen pals have sent to them. "We really helped them help themselves," says Judy.
Our second grade teacher with Mexican food.
All the students at the school play an active role by sometimes cooking, making the crafts, and anything else they can do to help. They research organizations and create presentation materials to share information about hunger and poverty with their community during the event. "We also have a display about our project with RESPECT/Mohomou Refugee School. We have a poster describing what RESPECT does, and we also have copies of our pen pal letters there for people to read. Besides raising money for hunger and for refugees, we believe we need to educate the public about these issues."
This has all been a labor of love, as the students' hard work will soon be reflected in the new Computer Resource Centre at Mohomou. Judy says, "I am very excited that the computers are finally arriving. I'm hoping we can be involved with our pen pals through the Internet soon."