Last summer, seventh grade students at Westminster Christian School in Miami, Florida, read Take Your Best Shot by Austin Gutwein. This book chronicles the story of how a teenage boy’s efforts are bringing hope to AIDs orphans in Africa.
Through this reading project, the students were challenged to research missions projects and consider how kids can make a difference. One organization they looked at was Mossy Foot Project.
Westminster Christian School 7th Grade Class
Fast forward to April and seventh-grader Christian Martinez could not forget the pictures he saw of patients suffering from mossy foot disease. He approached his teacher Mrs. Levi-Nolander with a vision for raising money to buy shoes for those in need in Ethiopia.
With his teacher’s help, a proposal was written and presented to the administration for approval. Once the concept was approved, the idea for a fundraiser was presented to the other seventh graders.
Only a team could make this happen and so the invitation was given…
Will you walk a mile for their shoes?
The students invited people to donate or pledge support for laps walked and then one hot day, they put their feet to work on the school’s track. After receiving their tallies of laps, they went to their sponsors to collect donations.
Mrs. Levi-Nolander helped visualize the effort by creating a bulletin board with a picture of large shoe and shoe prints representing dollars given. She reported that by the end of the effort, the shoes hiked their way off the top of the board!
Christian Martinez in front of the bulletin board showing donations for shoes
During an assembly, Mrs. Levi-Nolander presented the project and the summer reading to next year’s seventh graders. This gave them a clear idea of what “taking one’s best shot” looked like in their own context. We can’t wait to see what they come up with next year!
Thank you very much to this wonderful group of students who have demonstrated how working together can make a difference in the world!