RSS 2.0 FeedThursday, November 24, 2011, Featured Articles, Merrick Life
Raising funds for Invisible Children
Bake Sale and Sleep-In fundraisers are coming December 1 and 2.
by Anthony Belbol and Andrew Ryan
During the 1980s in Uganda, Alice Lakwena became the leader of a rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
LRA emerged when Ms. Lakwena believed the Holy Spirit spoke to her. During her epiphany, the spirit ordered her to overthrow the Ugandan government – using children. When Ms. Lakwena was exiled her cousin, Joseph Kony, took over command of the rebel movement.
After 23 horrific years, this war has transformed 1.8 million children from citizens to soldiers. In 2001, the United States government officially declared the LRA a terrorist organization. Since then, a major reform group known as the “Invisible Children” has exposed the injustices of the war. And it all started when three American filmmakers traveled to Africa in search of a story.
Because of the filmmakers who made people aware of – and understand – the conflict, Invisible Children has worked to end this war. It only takes $16,000 to build one emergency radio tower, and the students in Calhoun’s Senior Experience class plan to raise $32,000.
It is important for the Bellmore-Merrick communities to help the class, because your donations are going to a good cause. With this amount of funding we could end help end this war.
The Senior Experience class in Calhoun is having fundraisers for this cause. Two of them include a bake sale and a senior sleep in.
If you are a parent coming to the teacher conferences on Thursday, December 1, please stop by the Senior Experience bake sale. The Sleep-in for Calhoun seniors is on Friday, December 2. The event will start at 10:30 p.m. and end at 7:30 a.m.
In the sleep-in, students sleep in the gym because children in Uganda, known as “night commuters,” have to sleep in the center of town on the ground in fear that at any moment Joseph Kony may take them.
The Calhoun Senior experience class encourages the community to attend these fundraisers or go the fundraising page at www.stayclassy.org/fundraise/ic-team?ftid=3890.
