Interact Club raises $1.8K to help school in Ethiopia

The Hampton Academy Interact Club recently raised $1,850 with the help of several community members. Photo by Max Sullivan.
• By Max Sullivan
  msullivan@seacoastonline.com

  
  Posted May. 21, 2015 at 8:44 PM 
  
  

  HAMPTON – The Hampton Academy Interact Club put several well-known community members in “detention” last week to help raise money to purchase much needed supplies for a girl’s school in Ethiopia.

  The club, sponsored by the Hampton Rotary Club, raised $1,850 during a lunch period Friday.

  Community members were invited to sit in "detention" at lunch, where they asked students to donate money to help them get out. They also made phone calls to solicit donations. Angela Bowen, Hampton Academy's guidance counselor who advises the Interact club, said it was a kid friendly version of the "jail-and-bail" fundraising idea.

  Shane Pine of the Community Oven, Hampton Academy School Resource Officer Anthony Azarian, SAU 90 Superintendent Kathleen Murphy, Hampton Academy psychologist Dr. Les Masterman, Paula Rappolt of Blue Water Mortgage and Hampton Rotary Club President Larry Marsolais all sat in "detention" on the school stage as kids walked up, putting money in their buckets to help.

  The idea of the fundraiser came from the group's president Lidet O'Connor. The eighth-grader was adopted from Ethiopia, and she's passionate about working to help people in that country, as is her mother.

  O'Connor visited the country last fall and saw the condition of the schools there. She said schools can be few and far between, so kids must walk a mile or more to get to one. Girls, she said, often can't go to school because they must stay home and help with chores.

  O'Connor said the money will go to an organization that will purchase school supplies for a girl’s school. Pictures will be taken of the pencils, books and other supplies and sent back to the Interact Club so they can see exactly what the money was used for.

  O'Connor and eighth-grader Allie Rappolt, a board-member in the Interact Club, were excited with the amount raised Friday.

  "It's really nice to help out someone else other than yourself," O'Connor said. "It's nice knowing other kids our age are able to have these same benefits."

  "We want to help the less fortunate," Rappolt said.

  This is the first year of the Interact Club, which Bowen said is essentially a "student Rotary Club." Rotary International is a global organization that works to help communities around the world.

  "This one is a great project," Bowen said. "We hope to do it annually."

   source: seacoastonline.com