In February the Model United Nations (MUN) Club participants Luke McCrimmon, Hayley Englot, Tianna Kennett, Brett Turgeon, Santanna Mills, and Shane Hirtle attended "We Day."
Here they were encouraged to both fundraise for a local non-profit organization and to help on a global scale.
In response to this the MUN Club decided to allocate research of each of the seven countries that "Free the Children" works within.
They researched each country and together they had discovered three countries they were drawn to.
"They narrowed it to three countries and then the students had a competition," Principal Ron Wardrope explained. "They had to provide arguments as to why we should support that country."
Much like an advocacy group would on behalf of a country making it an educational exercise for those in MUN.
In the end the youth decided to raise money for Sierra Leone. A decision which was made based on the very serious civil war, which polarized the country and left it in ruins after 11 years of fighting. The youth's research also showed between 50 and 70 percent of the country lives in poverty, while 63 percent of adults are illiterate and approximately 67 percent of school aged children do not go to school.
The funds raised by MUN will be given to "Free the Children" which will focus on healthcare including the distribution of bed nets, epilepsy management programs, as well as sex education.
"Free the Children believes in teaching the people and giving them the resources. This means not just doing it for them but helping them learn so they will be better off in the long run," the MUN Club writes.
The MUN Club's reason for helping includes making lives better for children and families around the world.
The students therefore decided to hold a fundraising carnival at the Manor Rink to raise funds for Sierra Leone.
"This was all their idea, I gave them a few comments, but they organized it all. This is all them," Wardrope stated proudly of his class.
Carnival treats included cotton candy and candy apples, while many games and bouncy castles were also available for youth to spend tickets on. If the youth won at a game they would then receive other prize tickets for a chance to win a number of items.
The Manor MUN Club was in charge of the day and were able to find help in running the games from not only other students in Manor, but students from Carlyle and Arcola as well.
The MUN Club and all of their volunteers, completely organized by students, were able to work together to make a successful event, which raised $664.55 for Sierra Leone to be directed towards health care.
