AIS Shifts into High Gear for Relief Effort
Living the lessons learned daily at AIS, students strongly identified with the plight of people in southeast Asia after the tsunami. What started during the December holidays as individual efforts in students’ neighborhoods turned into a concerted and organized effort when classes resumed. Thus far, members of the AIS community have collected over $10,000, and the effort continues.
Some of the projects for the relief efforts are listed below:
On Friday, January 14, the only food served at AIS was rice. The Grade 5 curriculum includes a world hunger unit and for several years the students in that grade have a day in which they eat only rice. The decision was made this year to extend the day to the entire school, and for all of the money that would have been spent in preparing Friday’s normal food menu to be donated to the tsunami relief effort.
ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) teacher Shanta Kalyanasundaram spearheaded an effort by teachers and parents to organize finger foods and an Indian movie to raise funds, collecting $1,125. The group also cooked lunch for the faculty, raising $588. ESOL students collected $360, while AIS alumnae Anna Hertel and Anja Schoeke (Class of 2003) donated $276. Clothing, toiletries and school supplies have been collected for a local Hindu temple that will ship these to some of the most severely affected areas, thanks to the generosity of UPS which is shipping the items without charging us. In addition, proceeds from ticket sales and concessions to basketball and soccer games and a school theatre performance are being donated.
Seniors Eden Smith, Sharan Bal and Anna Collura organized one of the most successful fundraising activities. Sharan, the leader of Students for International Relief, Eden, the leader of CARE Corps Teens, and Anna, a leader in Amnesty International, describe their project:
“After the holidays, the three of us attended an after-school meeting with the teachers and students to discuss possible relief efforts school-wide. After brainstorming, we came up with the idea to have a silent “auction of promises,” thinking this would be a good way to get everyone involved. It started off as being a donation of services such as babysitting or carwashes, but the response from the Secondary School was enthusiastic and students tapped into individual skills as well as opportunities available to them on a regular basis that they thought others would greatly enjoy; for example, golf lessons, cooking dinners, vacation houses, sports tickets, etc.
“In a matter of four days, we prepared auction sheets for and collected over 85 items. We spent a lot of time inspiring the students to get creative (even if this meant deciding for them!) as well as organizing the auction and coordinating parent volunteers with the help of Mrs. Pattie Appleby. While developing the list of items for the auction, we found that there were many items that would sell much better and create more excitement in a live auction, such as lunch with Chris Lowell (a 2003 AIS graduate currently starring in the TV sitcom “life as we know it”), Georgia Tech basketball tickets, and running a faculty meeting.
“The silent auction opened on Thursday, December 13. The live auction was set up on Friday in the auditorium. The entire Secondary School was in the auditorium during lunch and senior Jacob Levinson was the auctioneer. We closed the auction at 4 p.m. after fierce competition amongst the bidders! In total, from the live and silent auctions we raised $5,700.”
A heartfelt thank you to everyone in the school community who opened their hearts and wallets to help alleviate the suffering of others. Students, teachers, parents and alumni are truly living the AIS mission.