Local kids are dancing for mercy and medicine.
The Grade 1 students at Vanway elementary school and their Grade 4 buddies are kicking their heels up with a dance-a-thon next week, raising money for the Mercy Ships initiative.
Mercy Ships is a global medical outreach program bringing together medical professionals of all description, plus support personnel and other community development professionals, all on the same ship - a floating hospital - that sails into the ports of impoverished countries.
Several people from Prince George are either on staff or part of the volunteer efforts on the current Mercy Ship deployment.
"Any amount the kids raise will make a larger impact this holiday season, as every donation made to Mercy Ships Canada will be doubled by an anonymous donor up until December 31st," said Grade 1 teacher Jo Beattie, who called her students "young agents of change."
The students have been preparing for the dance-a-thon by learning about their charity of choice through the experiences of a kid just like them.
"Our classes have been watching a series of videos called My Mercy Box about the daily life of a seven-year-old Norwegian girl, her older brother and sister who, with their parents - dad a dentist, mom a nurse - lived and volunteered for a year with Mercy Ships on board the world's largest charity hospital ship, the Africa Mercy."
Some of that same documentary can be viewed online at https://vimeo.com/57941287.
Monies raised at the dance-a-thon will go towards Mercy Ships programs in the Congo that provide children with the surgeries and healthcare they otherwise would not have access to, especially treatments for such things as bowed legs, club feet, cleft lip, cleft palate, facial tumors and healthcare education.
Beattie asked the community to support the fundraising efforts of the local children. The dance-a-thon happens on Friday. Those outside the Vanway elementary neighbourhood can pitch in by calling 250-964-6422 or emailing [email protected].
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