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By
Diane Forrest, RN
I don't sleep much at night, having spent years turning
my husband every 2 hours to prevent him from getting bed sores. I leave my television set on all the time
to keep me company. During the wee hours
of the morning there are many infomercials. One of them is for donations to feed children
in foreign countries. For your donation
( approximately 50 cents a day, the cost of a cup of coffee) you will receive a
picture of the child you are sponsoring, and a letter from your child. The commercial
goes on to show children who are skin and bones, and have sad expressions on
their faces, and hallow looks in their eyes.
It is heartbreaking to see and makes you wonder how that could happen in
the world today.
Thirteen years ago the Global Child Nutrition Foundation
was formed. Their Mission is: “Expand
opportunities for the world’s children to receive adequate nutrition for
learning and achieving their potential.”
Their vision is: “A world in which hunger is not a barrier to children
learning.”
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With the vast amount of food that is produced, and wasted
in the world today, there is no reason why any child should be hungry, but it
happens. Food that is sent to
underdeveloped countries rarely makes it to the intended recipients. Many times
the shipments are stolen and sold for profit.
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April is Global Child Nutrition Month. The website for the foundation offers these
tips to help raise awareness for nutrition, as well as funds. They include:
Top 10 Fundraising Ideas for Schools to Change Our World!
- The Great Bottle Battle: Each class should decorate a container to be kept in their home room. During the contest period, classes will race to see which room can fill their container the fastest. The home room that collects the most money is the winner!
- Help Serve: Every student has their favorite teacher. Students can “vote” on which teachers they want to help serve lunch on a specified day. Students can “vote” by placing money into jars decorated with participating teacher’s name/picture. At the end of the designated voting time, count the money and the top three teachers will help in the cafeteria, serving students.
- World Food Day: Volunteer your time to prepare special foods from around the world and host an event in the cafeteria or at a school function. Students, parents, and staff can sample different foods from around the world.
- International Night: Work with your local parent organization to host a “discover the world” party where a foreign film or a documentary on world hunger is shown. Parents can “buy” their tickets by making a donation.
- Teachers vs. Students: Coordinate with a parent organization or student group to host teachers vs. student’s basketball game. Have the cafeteria staff and parents volunteer their time to host a concession booth to increase fundraising.
- Community Milk Money: Wash empty milk cartons and band them with a creative Change Our World milk label. Take the containers to area businesses and ask them to place containers next to registers to collect change from customers during a set amount of time. Collect the change-filled milk cartons after the allotted time has expired.
- Chain Builders: Have different classrooms and grade levels compete to see who can build the largest paper chain. Sell strips of paper for 25¢ each. Allow students to buy strips for a predetermined period of time. At the end of the donation period, count the links and display the chains to see which class wins bragging rights.
- Pizza for the World: Have the students or staff build the largest pizza in your community by making a circle (chalk, rope, etc.) that they toss coins into, creating a “pizza” made with money that can be donated.
- Car Wash: More than good clean fun, a car wash is a great way to spread the word. Work with student organizations or cafeteria staff to work the car wash and hand out information about your fundraiser, global hunger and GCNF’s vision.
- Make A Match: Visit area businesses and ask them to match the funds collected at your school.
For more information on ways you can help, visit their
site at: http://www.gcnf.org/about/mission-vision/
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