Sample Press Release
Small Change Makes Big Difference
It was two dimes in a zip-locked snack baggy—a gift from a Cincinnati-area third-grader to another student worlds away. And so the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters added up during the week preceding World Food Day on October 16, 2007.
Twelve students representing seven schools in Cincinnati had organized the fundraiser. Their motto: When we all give a little, we can make a world of difference. And a little is all they asked for: 19 cents from each of their fellow students, just enough for the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) to buy lunch for—and help further the education of—an impoverished student in a developing country (The price of a single lunch has risen to 25 cents in the wake of a global food crisis.).
The fundraiser was designed to promote participation, not solicit big-dollar donations. Got change? read one project poster. Another pointed out that the money spent on a gourmet coffee would buy lunch for about 25 children.
The event was also a lesson in the power of community: Administrators of the participating schools gave the project their support; school secretaries and teachers helped the organizers collect funds; and, of course, the students at each school donated their change—and then some.
To help spur giving, the organizers recruited an anonymous donor who agreed to match contributions if they equaled or exceeded 19 cents times the number of students in each school. Each school vastly exceeded its target. At Ursuline Academy, students gave $560; at Indian Elementary, Middle, and Hill High Schools, $711.31; at Clark Montessori High School, $430; at Clark Montessori Junior High, $220; and at the New School Montessori, $261. Do the math, and the total contribution to WFP’s School Lunch Program was $4,364.32. That’s enough to buy lunch for nearly 23,000 children.
Might other students in other schools conduct similar fundraisers to support WFP’s School Lunch Program? The Cincinnati student organizers certainly hope so. All you need, they say, is school permission, posters, P.A. announcements, and a covered shoe box with a slit on top. Oh, yeah—and the secret to this fundraiser’s success: a lot of big hearts willing to part with small change.
To inspire spin-offs, the girls plan to post their fundraising materials online so that other students can adapt them for use in their schools.
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