Chase Lake Elementary participates in CARRY 5On Saturday, May 31, I had the privilege of joining a teacher and a few of her students in a 5K walk to raise money for clean water in developing countries. The walk wasn’t too taxing, but the journey to get to there is a story worth sharing. About two months ago, five students wrote me a letter. They read a story in their National Geographic about children who live in extreme poverty in Ethiopia. They felt worried for these children and asked me if they could raise money to send them. I suggested that we could concentrate on helping with one of the problems hurting these children, the lack of available clean water. We found an organization that works on this problem, Water 1st International, and a class project was underway. With the help of their brave teacher, these 3rd-graders spent their recess time selling popsicles for 25 cents each (frozen water for clean water), and eventually raised $201.33. This money was presented to Water1st International on Saturday morning, and seven of us walked 5K for the Chase Lake Team. At one stop along the route, the mother who was walking with us, deftly wrapped the long scarf she wore and placed it on her head with one of the water containers to show her daughter how she carried water from a stream when she was a girl. I don’t have the right words to describe the meaning of this moment, but there is something profound in an immigrant parent sharing her story, now her daughter’s story, while we walked along Lake Washington to mend a small part of this world problem. Congratulations to Mrs. Jensen’s class, for their compassion project. You are good role models, and we are proud of the way you represented our school to help others in need. Sincerely yours, |
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