BC News

BCMS Helping Hands club gets an assist here, there and everywhere

Release Date: March 20, 2009  

The Bethlehem Central Middle School Helping Hands Club could put a new spin on a familiar phrase: They think and act for global and local impact.

The club’s first-ever “World Rally,” held earlier this month, raised enough money to provide tuition for more than 50 students in the countries of Zimbabwe and Belize and gathered six large boxes of food for the food pantry in town. 

Members of the Helping Hands Club presented a check for $1,600 they raised with the event to the Albany-based African Reflections Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of people in Africa through educational and economic development, on Wednesday, March 18.

The World Rally – an evening event for students and community that combined entertainment and global awareness – drew more than 300 students in addition to faculty members, parents and community members. The event included a talent show, information about global issues, and also helped collect food for the local pantry.

The Helping Hands Club has been in existence at the Middle School for more than a decade, and has more than 25 student members this year. The club provides a venue for students who want to help people and the environment, both locally and across the planet. The students do everything from picking up garbage to organizing events such as the recent World Rally at the school.

“I like being part of this club because it helps other people and is a service to our community,” said Jessica Sternlicht, an eighth grade student who serves as the club’s president.  

Helping Hands’ past efforts have resulted in providing a sustainable breeding herd of more than 100 animals to a village in Zimbabwe, building a high school in a village in Belize, and sending more than 600 children to school in Africa. 

The students planned this year’s World Rally as a means of bringing students, teachers, parents and members of the local community together. Local groups and businesses participated in the effort. Java Jazz coffee shop set up a table to educated people about the importance of locally produced foods. Members of the Middle Eastern folk dance group, “Rumpus and the Wild Things” performed dances and provided hands-on demonstrations. Members of Team Rafiki, a local group of volunteers who assist people in Tanzania provided information about the poverty that exists in Africa.  

There were also informational tables set up by teachers and administrators providing information about recycling, communicating with people across the planet, endangered animals and environmentalism.

Three middle school rock bands, along with teachers and students performed music with a message about empowering global citizenship.  

In addition to the entertainment and information, the event raised funds to send children to school in Africa and Central America, as well as collecting 6 large boxes of food for the Bethlehem Town Food Pantry.  

On March 18, the students and adults who worked on the rally celebrated their success with a pizza party, where they presented the check to John Tamoshunas representing the African Reflections Foundation. 

“Being an advisor for the helping hands club gives me a unique opportunity to interact with students to help make a difference in today’s world and contribute to the community around us,” said Jacqulyn Hickok, who, alongside 6th grade Social Studies teacher Bill Reilly serves as teacher-advisor to the club. 

The Helping Hands Club is far from done for the year: This June the club will be coordinating with more than 10 schools around the world to host an international children’s art auction which will help to build a school in Tanzania!

 

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