United States: Oregon - Hungry for Change

Southridge High School in Beaverton, OR is sister schools with St. Andrew's School in Matale, Uganda. Without our financial and material support, St. Andrews would lack the resources to stay open and provide a vital educational pathway out of poverty for students of the area, many of whom are orphans from the AIDS epidemic.

This past year, myself and two other students, Patrick Nikong and Justin So, volunteered to spearhead the annual fundraising effort put on by the students of Southridge's IB Diploma program. The theme we chose was "Hungry for Change," and we modeled the event off of the "Iron Chef" programs used in previous years.

Loosely inspired by the television cooking series, our Iron Chef event asked dozens of students from our school to volunteer their time, food, and cooking skills in order to create dishes from cultures worldwide.  During the dinner an informational video on the problems facing students in Uganda was exhibited.. 

All the students in the IB Program were required to sell tickets to the event, which brought in hundreds of people from the school and community. All the money that was raised from the sale of the tickets (after necessary expenses) was donated to St. Andrew's School. The students sold upwards of 200 tickets, which totaled to about $1,800. A great achievement!

After consulting with members of St. Andrew's, the money was used to pay for Internet access and a new laptop, which was presented to emissaries from St. Andrew's when they visited Southridge several months later.