6
QUEENS WEEKLY, DEC. 9, 2018
Fresh Meadows students join forces
More than 100 PS 220 students help to provide donations to kids in need in South Sudan
(from l. to r.) Sixth grade students Nabintou Coulibaly, Jonas Keller, Hugo Arica, sixth grade teacher and charity organizer, Dina Shmuel and Noah C.
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BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
At least 120 students at
PS/MS 200 participated in a
Walkathon Nov. 28 in their
schoolyard to raise funds
to provide food supplies for
kids in Flint, Mich., and
clean water for people in
South Sudan.
Every year, students at
PS/MS 200, The Magnet
School of Global Studies
and Leadership — located
at 70-10 164th St. in Fresh
Meadows — participate
in charity events to raise
money for a great cause.
This year, Dina Shmuel,
an English teacher
and charity coordinator,
walked with sixth- and seventh
graders who donated
money to support the Back-
Pack Program of the Food
Bank of Eastern Michigan,
and Water for South Sudan
to provide clean, safe water
to hundreds and thousands
of people.
“We’re accepting donations
all day, and we’re
also selling water that will
go for the drilling wells in
South Sudan,” said Shmuel.
“Since we’re the Global
Studies and Leadership
School, I decided to go and
study countries outside of
here to tie everything in
with our novels so they can
make a connection.”
Shmuel is hoping to
raise as much money as
they can to contribute to
both organizations. Last
year, the students raised
$360 for Water for South
Sudan, said Shmuel.
The idea of a walkathon
came to mind after her
sixth grade class read the
novel, “Bud, Not Buddy,”
by Christopher Paul Curtis,
that describes the travails
and adventures of a 10-
year-old African-American
orphan in Depression-era
Michigan.
Shmuel’s seventh grade
class read “A Long Walk
to Remember,” by Linda
Sue Park, about two Sudanese
children, where one
fetches water from a pond
that is a two hour walk
from her home.
According to Shmuel,
the students’ donations to
The BackPack Program of
the Food Bank of Eastern
Michigan, will help provide
a backpack full of nutritious
and easy-to-prepare food for
children to take home on
the weekends when school
meals are not available.
Shmuel’s students said
the novels taught them the
importance of helping others
who are less fortunate,
being grateful for what
they have, and to continue
to persevere in pursuing
their goals.
“We just take things
for granted...like we don’t
understand there are so
many kids out there that
are in so much need of
help,” said sixth grader,
Tausiyah Miah.
Shmuel said she has
also been in contact with
an organizer at Water for
South Sudan, a non-profit
corporation that drills
wells to create access to
and monitor safe drinking
water for communities located
in remote rural areas
of South Sudan.
“Here in school we have
clean water that we can
drink anytime, and they
have to walk eight miles a
day just to get water that
isn’t clean,” said seventh
grader, Nabintou Coulibaly.
“Us raising money for
them could help them get
clean water that would actually
save someone’s life
because a lot of people are
dying, and getting really
sick because they’re drinking
this water.”
Hugo Arica said it’s important
for them to help
those in South Sudan,
where families lack access
to basic necessities.
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