Cardboard Village

On October 30th, we hosted an event titled "Cardboard Village."  This was our first major fundraiser on our crusade to build a school in rural Cambodia.  It is our hope that by spreading education in the area, we can change the course of the lives of generations to come.  Although the school will host girls and boys, it is primarily targeted at girls who wouldn't be able to go to school otherwise, for a multitude of reasons: Not enough money, fear they would be kidnapped, they are needed to work at home, etc. However, a school in a rural area is good for everyone. Education can bring prosperity to an area, create jobs, and even delay the age of marriage and childbirth.  Simply put, we are attempting to alleviate some of the major contributors to poverty.

Co-presidents Maggie Barnard and Kaitlyn Rabach, came up with the idea of Cardboard Village.  The event consisted of students spending the night on the football field in cardboard boxes...in 30 degree weather.  In order to participate in the event, students were expected to raise a minimum of 50 dollars.  The majority of the students surpassed that goal.  The event brought in almost 5,000 dollars, all of which is going to the construction of the school. 

Some of evenings activities were decorating their boxes, a relay race where students carried cement blocks to symbolize the physical labor women do daily in the developing world, and a piggyback and three-legged race, to symbolize the dependence that women have on men.  In addition to those events, the current Miss Michigan Katie LaRoche spoke to the students on the topic of human trafficking. She gave the students some startling facts and encouraged them to get involved and change the world. Here is her facebook post about the event:

Spoke at Mona Shores HS last night to 50 kids who were spending the night in Cardboard boxes in the freezing cold weather in effort to raise the money to build a school in rural Cambodia. That is some selfless and inspiring hard work right there :0)

The event was covered by the Chronicle and can be found here:
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2010/11/mona_shores_high_schools_amnes.html