The World Needs Your Help

Do you remember your first days of school? There’s the nice outfit, the new backpack filled with school supplies, the parents taking photos and embarrassing their children. That scenario is about to play out all over the world this next month as students head back to school. And, the best part is, you can help make the first day of school a little sweeter for students who don’t have the means to buy school supplies.

I’m talking about all over the world. There are students in America that desperately need school supplies. Great organizations like Kids in Need Foundation, Volunteers of America, United Way, and K.I.D.S. (Kids in Distressed Situations) give valuable school resources to America’s children in need. Check them out.

There are students in Africa that need school supplies, in Eastern Europe, in Asia. Pencils of Promise is a great place to start. Or my friend Taylor Henderson, working as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana. Send an email her way and she’ll let you know what supplies her village would utilize. [check her blog out at http://taylorhenderson.blogspot.com/]

I’m challenging you to give. Today. To a child down the street or across an ocean.

If you want to give to elementary and high school students in the FSM, consider donating the following:

-Boxes of crayons

-Ticonderoga pencils (we have trouble with other brands breaking too easily)

-Books for kindergarteners through high school students. [We’re working on building up our school libraries because there are no bookstores on island.]

-Page protectors

-Dry erase whiteboard markers

-Stickers

-Prizes for our prize box (think small toys, bouncy balls, or cool things from the Dollar Store or Dollar Aisle at Target)

-If you’re really feeling fancy, bags of candy (M&Ms, Skittles, or gummy candy) so we can do some fun addition practice in 1st grade.

My parents are collecting supplies to send (email me if you want to drop something off and need their home address) or you can send a Flat Rate Box through the USPS for the same price as America, directly to Micronesia!

Emily Hagen

Jesuit Volunteers

PO Box 160

Pohnpei, FM 96941

From this teacher’s heart to yours, thank you, for donating to Micronesia or your hometown or any of the many organizations that help students succeed around the world. Thank you.