Sexton, a former St. Columban student and graduate of St. Xavier High School, was talking about people in Ethiopia where he founded a project called PowerUp Ethiopia. They’re building a solar well to provide a reliable efficient source of clean water for the people there. Inspired by his message, and classroom lessons from their teachers, the students are selling lemonade and popsicles to raise money for the project.
At the end of the school day Tuesdays and Fridays through the end of the school year, the fourth-graders set up a lemonade stand outside the school. They donate the money from sales of the lemonade and popsicles they sell there.
“We’re trying to raise money for the well,” said Luke, a student in Beth Judd’s fourth-grade class. “I don’t want them to suffer,” his classmate Rachel said about why they’re doing it.
“They’re almost finished with the well,” Judd said. “If we can raise one thousand dollars they’ll finish the well. They’re close.”
From the end of March thru the first week of May, the students have raised $625 from their lemonade and popsicle stand. Last year the stand raised $1,200 for the project. The children are so excited about helping many have donated the money they’ve made setting up lemonade stands at home too.
“That’s where we make more of our money, people having them at home,” Judd said. “I bet you there have been 25 kids so far, and the weather is just getting better.”
Judd and fellow fourth-grade teachers Eileen Phelps and Kathy Sexton are guiding the students in their efforts to help PowerUp Ethiopia. Sexton helped coordinate her son’s visit to talk with the kids. Judd helps the students organize the lemonade and Popsicle stand. Students remember lessons from Phelps about how more people die from “bad water” than from malaria, tuberculosis, and aids. The kids are combining what they read; learn in science, and what they learn in religion class about helping others.
“It’s amazing,” Judd said. “I want them to realize other people in the world need help, other people don’t have life as nice as here in Loveland, and to reach out to help.”
St. Columban fourth-grade lemonade stand for PowerUp Ethiopia
•50-cent lemonade and popsicles (donations accepted).
•Tuesdays and Fridays through the end of the school year, 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the school parking lot.
•More about St. Columban School at: www.saintcolumbanschool.org
•More about PowerUp Ethiopia at: www.concordiahumana.org
Source: cincinnati.com
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