Lake Zurich school's fundraiser nets $10,000

Students at Spencer Loomis Elementary School saw their art project fundraiser rake in a little more than $10,000 with the help of a local orthodontist.

The $5,000 contribution from Dr. Patrick Foley of Lake Zurich doubled their goal for a total $10,340 donation to Charity: Water, an organization that promotes bringing clean drinking water to developing countries across the globe.

On Monday, students at the Hawthorn Woods school celebrated their donation project, named "The Hope Mural". It was organized by the Spencer Loomis Art Parent program, which supplements the school's art curriculum.

"Bringing art home and putting it on the fridge doesn't demonstrate to kids how art can go out into the world and do great things," said Vanessa Griffin, art parent committeewoman. "It wasn't just about muraling, van Gogh or using pastel, but really art's force in social actions."

Each of the school's 530 students created a piece of the 8-foot by 12-foot mural resembling Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night.

"Several students helped to glue it together and they actually participated in the roadshow and sold the prints," said Noreen Wach, art parent committeewoman. "They sold to the families and they kind of spread the word on their own."

Students sold copies of the mural as stickers, prints, and posters at seven community events, including the school's science fair and the Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce's expo.

The mural's cause taught the students about social consciousness and water conservation. They were told a well could be dug for $5,000, providing 250 people with drinkable water.

"It's important to know how it would be if you had to do the stuff that they had to do," Griffin's daughter Maeve said of children in developing nations. "They have to carry a big jug for two to three miles, and they fill it up with dirty water, and they have to carry it back, and they have to miss school."

Maeve Griffin, 7, of Hawthorn Woods, and other Loomis students carried filled water jugs across the hallway to experience what they were told other children do across the world.

Foley took notice of the fundraiser, and offered to help raise money for another well dig if the school accomplished its goal.

"Water conservation has been a cause that my wife and I have been concerned with in recent years," he said. "I think it's the kind of thing that Foley Orthodontics anticipates to be involved with in the future beyond the local school."

In about a year, Charity: Water should present the students with a certificate acknowledging their donation, along with pictures of the well their money helped dig and the people who will benefit from it.