NAHANT ― First graders at Johnson Elementary School raised more than $2,400 for Ukrainian children last week.
With the help of their teachers and parents, they made and sold bracelets and postcards to support their peers who have been displaced from their homes in Eastern Europe.
“This event was about selling bracelets and about Ukraine,” said first-grade student Mel Billias. “I helped to make bracelets and do lots of fun things. It is important because Ukrainian children have had to move to a different place, because there is a war in Ukraine.”
The students came up with the idea of fundraising for their peers in Ukraine when they discussed George Washington and the Revolutionary War in their class.
“The children mentioned that they heard that there was a war happening right now,” said first-grade teacher Madeline Fodero. “It was never my intention to speak about it in class ― they (learned) the bits and pieces from home.”
Fodero said her students started to think about what they could do to help the children in Ukraine.
“We decided the best way to help them would be to do a fundraiser,” she added.
Fodero then contacted the humanitarian organization Save the Children and made the fundraising page. In the meanwhile, another teacher from the same class, Heidi Fiore, went out to buy the beads.
“I am so proud of these students ― they came up with the idea, and they kept pushing it,” said Fiore. “And we just allowed them to go with it, and they came up with the idea of the bracelets.”
The children also made some cards and posters.
“Every day they came up to me with new posters they made for Ukraine,” said Fiore. “I am just thrilled to be able to let them do this.”
The 13 children in the class made more than 135 bracelets in a week, and they also fundraised around $1500 from their community before the sale. The total amount of what the children earned through their Friday bracelet sale will be announced Monday.
“We met for the last 30 minutes every day at the school, and we made the bracelets and the posters,” said Fodero. “And we had parents coming and helping us for the first time since COVID, so it’s a really big moment.”
Fodero said that she talked about perseverance with her students throughout the previous week.
“Our goal is to teach children that if you worry you should take action,” said Fodero. “There are always steps you can take to help someone. Seeing these things in the news causes children to worry, and the best thing to do with the worry is to talk about it, and to tackle it.”
