Libertyville District 70 students reach out to Japan
Libertyville Elementary School students are reaching out to help people in Japan after a devastating earthquake and tsunami through fortune cookies, flower and craft sales, basketball games and origami cranes.
At Rockland School, students will donate more than $600 to the American Red Cross for the Japanese Red Cross Disaster Relief, said third-grade teacher Linda Snader. The student council raised almost $390 in a Valentine’s Day carnation flower sale, and another $220 in a “Fortunes for Fortune Cookies” drive.
“Students donated money and then received a fortune cookie for making a donation,” Snader said, adding she and Principal Jean LeBlanc created the project.
“Through this recent disaster, our students realized just how fortunate we really are,” Snader said. “As for the cookie idea, we wanted to have another donation/coin drive for Japan but knew we needed some fun idea/incentive for the students to remember to bring in change, and the fortune cookie idea came up as a connection to Japan.”
The Panda Express Gourmet Chinese Food in Vernon Hills donated the cookies for the cause, she said.
The Red Cross is helping Japan after an earthquake and tsunami hit the country two months ago.
At Highland Middle School, teachers and students will compete against each other in a basketball tournament after school on Thursday, May 26. The event is organized by the seventh-grade student council.
“The student council voted for all proceeds to benefit Japan,” said Spanish teacher Sara Raymond. “They are working hard to raise as much money as we can for the victims.”
Hornet wristbands and baked goods will be for sale. Spectators can come and watch the event for a $2 entry fee.
At Butterfield School, kindergarten teachers Maggie Barrett and Janine Hogan used the current event to spur students in a special project of making decoupage candleholders. The students glued colored tissue onto more than 200 glass jars and sold them at a school open house.
“We raised more than $500 and the students were thrilled,” said Barrett, who links projects to current events to make students think globally. “It was way more than we expected to raise. Everyone at Butterfield was so generous. Students from the other grade levels came down to our wing with their parents to buy jars. We completely sold out of our jars during Open House and there were still people coming down to buy more. It was truly amazing.”
The money is being donated to the American Red Cross for the Japanese Disaster Relief.
Adler Park School gifted education teacher Emily Maki and the school’s fourth grade class made 900 origami cranes as part of a fundraiser, “Paper Cranes for Japan.” The goal was to make 50 cranes.
The Bezos Family Foundation donated $2 per crane to Architecture for Humanity’s reconstruction efforts with local designers and builders in Japan.
The incredible outpouring of support inspired a $400,000 donation from the Bezos Family Foundation, doubling its initial gift. The cranes are expected to be woven into a future art installation in Japan as a symbolic gift from students around the globe to Japanese youth. The crane project ended April 15.