People often see philanthropy flowing from extreme wealth but that's far from the philosophy of ODW. We believe philanthropy comes from generosity and everyone can be generous.
For example, ODW is so proud and privileged to have partnered with students from several schools from around the world and we hope to partner with more students, parents, teachers, and schools in the future.
To encourage and inspire you, here's a few of the amazing ODW school partnerships:
Palos Verdes High School (California, USA)
Palos Verdes HS (pictured above) was one of our first school partnerships. In 2010, couple student leaders (Mike Kang, Katie Reidy, Natalia Declarson, and Jake Edelstein) contacted ODW to partner with us in raising funds for our Haiti Relief and Rebuild Fund. They put on a benefit show called “Hope for Haiti” featuring musicians and artists from their school.
What began as a simple idea grew into a school wide movement that included the entire student body and numerous parents and teachers.
They put on a sold out event (800 tickets) and raised $10,000 [read full story].
Lebanon Catholic School (Pennsylania, USA)
Lebanon Catholic School (LCS) recently partnered with ODW to support our matching grant in Zimbabwe with The American Foundation for Children with AIDS (AFCA). The school had a connection with AFCA through Mrs. Betsey Dorsey – a mother of 5 children who attend LCS and a volunteer for AFCA.
The school and its students rallied behind Mrs. Dorsey and this ODW/AFCA project in Zimbabwe to invest in 77 orphan families with goats, training, support, and oversight to help meet their own physical needs. Translation: empowerment.
The students started a campaign called “Penny War for the Poor” upon learning what even $1 can do for children living in extreme poverty. They collected pennies and other coins as part of this campaign. In fact, over 100,000 pennies were collected in the first four days! In total, LCS raised $1,810.41.
Morrison Academy Kaohsiung (Taiwan)
Morrison Academy Kaohsiung (MAK) is a two-time ODW school partner. In 2010, they helped partnered with our water project with 'a child's right' and in 2011, they partnered with our reforestation project in Madagascar with Eden Reforestation.
MAK has approximately 190 elementary and middle school students but their students along with the support of their faculty and parents have amazed all of us. In 2010, they raised $21,350 towards a $35,190.68 project that brought clean water to approximately 10,242 kids and 417 staff in 7 sites in Cambodia. For their Christmas campaign in 2011, MAK raised an additional $11,814 that helped plant about 120,000 trees in Madagascar!
Charterhouse (United Kingdom)
Charterhouse is our newest school partner. Charterhouse is one of the great historic schools of England (founded in 1611). Through their 'Charities Committee', they are partnering with ODW's project with Love146 in the Philippines.
They hope to raise awareness of human trafficking and raise funds that will go towards the educational and vocational training of their “Round House” which is a safe home for sexually exploited/trafficked young girls in the Philippines. The aftercare program aims to help the children recover from the traumatic experiences, as well as facilitating and empowering them for their future lives.
Whittier Elementary School (Seattle, USA)
In Spring 2010, we received a donation of coins from Ms. Mayo's 1st grade class at Whittier Elementary School.
The 1st grade students personally gave $44.38 in coins.
While it may not seem like a lot, we were so encouraged that the kids took time to learn about extreme poverty. They invited Minhee Cho (ODW's co-founder) to share the story of ODW and the impact that every single person – including young students – can have in the fight against global poverty.
In response, they gave $44.38 – collected in the “piggy bank” below!
We so appreciate all of these schools and so many others not listed here. If your class or school is interested in partnering with ODW at any point in the future, email us at office@onedayswages.org. You can also raise funds directly for to ODW's Education Fund that focuses on grants and projects focused on the lack of access to education impacting 75 million school aged children.
Together, we can make a dramatic impact.
