About 100 former Reed Intermediate School students saw this week the power of their kindness - a new well drilled for the “New Life Academy” school in a small Liberian community where children often cannot attend this dirt-floored, hut-style building because they have no clean water to drink.
The Reed students, under the tutelage of four dedicated Reed teachers – Valerie Hepburn, Georgia Smith, Lillian Martenson and Petrice Divonna – raised $2,800 in just three hours last June. Their charity effort was a connection to a class lesson connected to the story, “The Push Car War.” The students built their own push carts, and then made wares to sell to their fellow students and staff. With the focus on honoring the lives of those lost in the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy, the students opted to donate the funds to build the well in Liberia.
Their efforts have been well-received in Liberia, and will likely have surprising positive repercussions back home.
Read more about this project and the students in The News-times online and print editions.