Here’s a Friendly Challenge…
Hi. I’m Tom March. I’ve met some of you and all of your teachers. I’m the one who made the MyPlace (not MySpace!) Web site for this project. I’ve really been energised reading your posts. Anyone who says that young people are “self-obsessed” hasn’t talked to any of you lately! 
It made me wonder, what if we combined Ms. Scanlon’s early post about the $100 water well in Cambodia with all the enthusiasm you students have shown? Couldn’t you achieve amazing things! And Real things!
Here’s the Challenge: Make a Difference!
Maybe I can elaborate a little… I see two parts to the challenge:
- See how much you and your friends can save in one week by giving a miss to Teenage Affluenza. We have five schools, basically from the “leafy suburbs of Melbourne,” and many of you have said how something could and should be done. Collecting some $ is the first step.
- Ms Scanlon found a great person-to-person way to make $100 help a whole community live healthier and longer. Robert Thompson was able to buy a water buffalo for $250 that changed the lives of four generations of a family in China whose life had been really tough. Watch the video on YouTube and get blown away (your teacher has a copy of the video if YouTube is blocked).
Then make a choice: do you want a little friendly competition or to work together? Which do you think could make the biggest difference, a bunch of groups of friends competing with others to collect the most $ and make the biggest impact on real people’s lives or all of you working together to gather one big sum of $ and find the very best use of it? I have no idea which might work best. But I do know you can make a difference. Are you willing to try?
Add your comment to this post. You can take on the challenge as 5 schools, one class, a group of friends or one single person. What do you think?
November 8th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
The group from Toorak College are planning many ways to help make a stand. From cake stalls to free dress days, we are accepting this challenge and hope that other schools try aswell
thanks bec
November 8th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I think this is a great idea and our group at Toorak College has decided to take up the challenge. We have discused what things we could do to raise money and have ideas such as free dress days and stalls. We hope that other schools will join us in accepting this challenge and look forward to having the reward of knowing that we have helped a community less fortunate than us.
Thanks Charlie
November 8th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Thanks Bec and Charlie,
This is so great.
Let us know by posting to this blog if you need anything that we can do at a distance. The free dress days and local fund-raising are great ideas. You might see if any local papers / radio stations will help spread the word for you.
All the best and THANKS!
Tom