Hard charity work by Prince George youth will ensure children in India soon have a classroom in which to learn.
PGSS teacher Mike Carson felt he had a particularly motivated group of students in his Free The Children Club. They exceeded his expectations, launching into charity famines and service events to raise money for the Free The Children organization. They earmarked the funds for education in a developing country.
"Hundreds of children, primarily female, from remote villages will have access to a better life because some young people at a school in Canada took a few hours out of their busy lives and sold ice cream, set up tables for teachers at Professional Development days, baked cookies and sold samosas, were paid off for staying quiet and for not eating, wrapped presents for children they had never met," said Carson.
"These kids gave their time with joy, and their myriad selfless little acts have changed the world."
They raised about $5,000 which was an amount that got the attention of Free The Children organizers. The PGSS group was deemed worthy of a Big Dream Award, which matches the funds. The PGSS donation was doubled thanks to a corporate donation by Club Penguin (a Kelowna-based division of Disney). It was the maximum amount allowable under the matching program.
Making the experience even sweeter was a personal connection for Carson. One of his former students, Shobha Sharma, is now a frontline Free The Children staff member working in India. For the money to go to that organization, and that country, said Carson, was additionally satisfying.
"When we say, 'You can't change the world,' we are wrong," he said. "We change the world every day through our actions, or through our failures to act. In small, almost imperceptible ways, the things we do - or fail to do - ripple out across the universe of human experience. The [PGSS] kids have changed the world for the better."
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