Donation to UNICEF

DL DAV Model School in New Delhi, India raised 22,000 rupees for those affected by the storms in the Philippines. Well done students and teachers.  They sent the donation through UNIVEF.

Students in Oak Park Submit Design Plans

Every year the students from Lincoln Elementary School in Oak Park visit Graue Mill Museum.  When their classmate and Alec couldn't go to the second floor because he was in a wheelchair and there was no elevator, the students went into action.  Read what happened next!

St. Mark's Senior Secondary School, Meera Bagh

Every year, students at St. Marks are engaged in a variety of community service projects, remembering the needs of others.  Click the links below to read about these good works and see some of the students involved.

A wish tree finds students collecting goods for the needy.
The Eco Club is again this year involved in tree plantation.
Students also are involved in community service such as helping in the educational needs of underprivileged children and helping to provide relief for flood victims.

St Mark's Sr.Sec. School, Meera Bagh, New Delhi, India

Our Green Ambassadors in the Lap of Nature

Eco Club members of St Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School Meera Bagh were taken for aDay’s trip to Navdanya (literally means nine grains) at Mehpa Village, near Meerut 3 November 2012. The Day started with the tour of the fields where crops are grown using organic methods only. The Students enjoyed seeing various vegetables in the fields and were delighted to pluck chillies, brinjals (eggplant or aubergine), amlas (Indian gooseberry), guavas, to name a few. While taking a tour of the fields, students learned innovative methods of crop production like mixed cropping, crop rotation, irrigation methods, and adding manure. They also saw how jaggery was being made. The students got a taste of village life and food too. They also experienced the difference between rural and urban life.

Finally they were told about the importance of seeds and seed banks and why Navdanya is working towards seed sovereignty. 

The declaration given below was read by every student and teacher  of the school in every class via Educomp Smart boards.

DECLARATION ON SEED FREEDOM

• Seed is the source of life; it is the self urge of life to express itself, to renew itself, to multiply, to evolve in perpetuity in freedom.
• Seed is the embodiment of bio cultural diversity. It contains millions of years of biological and cultural evolution of the past, and the potential of millennia of a future unfolding.
• Seed Freedom is the birth right of every form of life and is the basis for the protection of biodiversity.
• Seed Freedom is the birth right of every farmer and food producer. Farmer’s rights to save, exchange, evolve, breed, sell seed is at the heart of Seed Freedom. When this freedom is taken away farmers get trapped in debt and in extreme cases commit suicide.
• Seed Freedom is the basis of Food Freedom, since seed is the first link in the food chain.
• Seed Freedom is threatened by patents on seed, which create seed monopolies and make it illegal for farmers to save and exchange seed. Patents on seed are ethically and ecologically unjustified because patents are exclusive rights granted for an invention. Seed is not an invention. Life is not an invention.
• Seed Freedom of diverse cultures is threatened by Bio piracy and the patenting of indigenous knowledge and biodiversity. Bio piracy is not innovation – it is theft.
• Seed Freedom is threatened by genetically engineered seeds, which are contaminating our farms, thus closing the option for GMO-free food for all. Seed Freedom of farmers is threatened when after contaminating our crops, corporations sue farmer for “stealing their property”.
• Seed Freedom is threatened by the deliberate transformation of the seed from a renewable self generative resource to a non renewable patented commodity. The most extreme case of non renewable seed is the “Terminator Technology” developed with aim to create sterile seed.
• We commit ourselves to defending seed freedom as the freedom of diverse species to evolve.

WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Aquaguard Machines installed in Govt. Schools - (2012)

Availability of clean, drinking water is a major issue in most of the Govt. run schools. Students of St. Mark’s Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh, felt that water is a dire necessity of survival. Translating this thought into action, the students of class VI, VII and VIII initiated a project wherein they collected money from their classmates and teachers and installed Aquaguard Water Purifiers in three schools namely :

Govt. Sr. Sec. School for Girls, Ambica Vihar
Govt. Sr. Sec. School for Boys, Ambica Vihar
Govt. Sr. Sec. School for Boys, Jwala Puri

The students not only funded the project but were also involved and present at the time of installation of these machines. The efforts of the students and their sensitivity was acknowledged and appreciated by the students and Principals of these stated schools. The group leaders were Manav Prabhakar, VII-C, Sabyasachi Chand, VII-C,Siddhant Malhotra, VIII-D, Radhika Aggarwal, VIII-D and Aastha Nagpal, VIII-D.

Anti-Fire cracker Campaign

Earth Saviours Club of St Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School Meera Bagh once again spread the message of celebrating an Eco-friendly Diwali. The members  made Power point presentations which were shown to the students through Smart Class Boards. They talked about the perils of bursting fire crackers and suggested the idea of celebrating Diwali online (virtual fire crackers). A street play was staged along with the Diwali rally in the neighbouring areas as part of the anti-cracker campaign

ANIMAL ACTIVIST ADDRESSES COMPANIMALS CLUB

 Ms.Aakriti, an animal activist visited St. Mark's Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh, on 09.11.2012 and addressed the members of Companimals Club of the school.  She emphasized on anti cracker Diwali as animals get scared and injured due to bursting of crackers.  She gave a presentation and emphasized upon the measures to be taken duringDiwali to help animals.

COMPANIMALS CLUB MEMBERS VISIT ANIMAL SHELTER

Members of the Companimals Club (VI-VIII) of St. Mark's Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh, went to Sonadi Animal Shelter on 20.12.12 where they were welcomed by Ms.Vandana Sen, Caretaker of Sonadi Charitable Trust, and Ms.Sita, a young lady with a selfless caring attitude.  They gave students a detailed account about the functioning of the shelter.  Students were inspired and motivated for the noble cause of valuing life in various forms.  It was an enriching experience.

Contributed by Lakshmi Srinivas,  Teacher at St. Marks

'World Walking Day 2012'

Veronica Woo and students at SMJK in Malaysia join in World Walking Day as part of their Health and Wellness of Teenagers project.

Helping the Hungry in Valencia

In Valencia, several of our teachers and students have been busy all year working to help the hungry in our community.  Two of the students to be honored for their contribution are also members of our GVC1119 team, Elia Yago and Ji Yea Shim.  Congratulations Elia and Ji Yea.  The following is an excerpt from a letter regarding their activity:

Macarron is a volunteer organization working to feed the needy in Valencia. Many of our students have participated in this effort this year. The work of Macarron is being honored at “La Casa Encendida” in Madrid on Friday, April 27. Their efforts are being included in a book titled Heroes Sociales 2.0, featuring different non – profit organizations which use social media to advance their goals. The directors of Macarron have been invited to the ceremony, and they have generously invited ASV students to join them. Five students and two teachers will miss school that day to attend, and they will be gone all day Friday.

More information about the Macarron Project can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/elmacarronsolidario
http://elmacarronsolidario.blogspot.com/

Submitted by Ms. Kathryn House, American School of Valencia

Service Before Self

ST. MARK'S MEERA BAGH WORKS FOR A CAUSE

Ms.S.Malik and Ms.M.Parashar, teachers of St. Mark's Sr.Sec.Public School, Meera Bagh, accompanied  guests Ms.Cecilia and Ms.Kajsa, from UNIVERSITY WEST  SWEDEN to visit SOS Village at Bawana, on 26.2.2011.  The guests from Sweden and children of SOS interacted with each other about the curricular and co-curricular activities.  The Swedish friends were impressed with the infrastructural facilities of SOS as well as zealous approach of students of St.Mark’s School, Meera Bagh, who have always extended a helping hand to SOS.  Finally, after cutting the cakes and distributing chocolates and Pepsi lovingly sent by the senior students of St.Mark’s Meera bagh, they bid adieu to SOS Village inmates with a silent promise to be back again.

SOS Children's Village is an independent, non-governmental international development organisation which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children since 1949. It was founded by Dr. Hermann Gmeiner in Imst, Austria. According to the Financial Times, the 2004 turnover of SOS Children's Villages altogether was US$ 807 million, and it was ranked 33 out of a 100 global NGOs for "global accountability". Its international umbrella SOS-Kinderdorf International was founded in 1960, after national associations had been established in France, Germany and Italy in addition to the original Austrian association. 

The organization's work focuses on abandoned, destitute and orphaned children requiring family-based child care. Millions of children worldwide are living without their biological families for a variety of reasons including:
♣    parental separation,
♣    domestic violence and neglect
♣    they have lost their parents due to war or natural catastrophes
♣    disease - including, increasingly, AIDS.
Such children are supported to recover from being emotionally traumatised and to avoid real danger of being isolated, abused, exploited and deprived of their rights.
SOS provides about 50,000 such children and 15,000 young adults with a permanent new family, with a '24 hours a day' new SOS mother to provide family-based care. Typically (in the developing world) about ten children are grouped into a house with an SOS mother and between ten and forty of such houses are grouped together as a "Village" with shared facilities. Family groups once formed are kept together as a priority.
Come let us give a loving home to every child.
http://www.soscvindia.org 

Ramakrishna Mission: Sharada Milk Scheme
Ms L Srinivas Of St Mark’s Meera Bagh had the wonderful opportunity to be witnessand contribute to this Noble Cause. The pictures were taken by her.

http://www.rkmdelhi.org/
http://www.rkmdelhi.org/activities/social-uplift/

Gadadhar Abhyudaya Prakalpa and Vivekananda Swasthya Pariseva Prakalpa:
The Free Milk Distribution Scheme which was inaugurated on 1st May 2009, gained momentum in course of time when many poor children in the vicinity (age group of 2 to 6 years) and expectant/lactating mothers started taking the benefit of free milk distribution. The number of beneficiary children gradually increased. As on 31st March 2011, as many as 200 children became the beneficiaries of
this scheme per day.  Two programs titled Gadadhar Abhyudaya Prakalpa and Vivekananda Swasthya Pariseva Prakalpa were also started this year. A total of 450 children (215 boys and 235 girls) were benefitted by these programs. In addition to milk, nutrition in the form of snacks is also provided.  Besides, some useful items like tooth brush, tooth paste, school uniforms, pens, exercise books, soaps etc. are also being given every month according to their needs. On some occasions, medical aid is also provided to them.

GOONJ  aims to address one of the basic needs of the mankind i.e. clothing out of three i.e. food, shelter and clothing simply by addressing the urban feature of space constraint and consumerism, due to which urban household discard old clothes and other household material. 
GOONJ channelises this material to the poorest in the far flung areas of the country, where, it not only fulfills a basic need but also frees up their meagre resources for other more pressing needs. 
The thought   is very simple and straight. They   ask people to give them all such material at their home or in office, which they hardly use. After a rigorous sorting and in a very systemic manner, it goes to needy people in the remotest parts of the country for whom these are very valuable. We collect - A growing child’s old clothes and old toys which are gathering dust in some corner of the house, utensils, clothes, blankets, one side used paper, medicines, stationary, old newspapers, magazines, anything and every thing you don’t feel like throwing away but don’t need any more. We firmly believe that anything can be reused, if we do it systematically and it has a potential to solve a major problem of someone needy. 


Muskaan

This year too as in the previous years St Mark’s Meera Bagh extended a helping hand to Muskaan an Ngo which looks after the needs of ‘Gods own children’.  The school was venue the for sale of candles, Diyas (earthenware lamps), lanterns, spices, and various other home grown items produced by the inmates of Muskaan. The word Muskaan means Smile and it aims to put a smile on every face which is in need of it. Our school too made an attempt to put a smile on Muskaan’s face. Our students helped them by promoting the sales in a big way.

Muskaan started as an effort to provide opportunities for meaningful education amongst children from deprived background in late 1997. Twenty slum children, working and out of schools, became part of a 2-hour schedule of fun and learning (both ways). The daily interaction with the children and a constant exposure to the hardships the communities and specific groups go through resulted in an increased and a more planned response to other concern areas including education and also the number of children and slums. We are thus today working with over 400 children across 6 slums and with their parents.

 by Simran 10B St Mark's Senior Secondary Public School, Meera Bagh, New Delhi, India

Working for a cause

A sure way for one to lift himself up

 Is by helping to lift someone else……….

Whenever there is a call for Social and community work SMS Janak Puri has never left any stone unturned. We are aware of our social responsibilities and are trying to lend a helping hand to those less privileged than us.

SOS

SOS Villages of India’ is a NGO which is a non-profitable organization. It helps children, those who bravely faced various natural calamities like flood, earthquakes and terrorism. SOS Villages of India provide a complete home to these children.

Helping Hand Lend BY SMS, Janakpuri………….
SOS 2010-2011 [SOS Children Villages of India]

The school has always believed in saying “The hands that serve are more holy than the lips that pray “.

Following this maxim the school and students contributed an amount of Rs. 2,77,790 towards SOS Children Villages Of India.

The Director Mrs. Anjali Aggarwal presented the cheque to Mr. Kanchan Sen – HEAD DIRECT MARKETING IN FUND RAISING DEPARTMENT OF SOS CHILDREN VILLAGES OF INDIA on the eve of Independence Day function held on 12th August 2011.

“SAMBHAV – A Celebration of Life”, an endeavour  to bring cheer and joy in the lives of visually, hearing & speech impaired as well intellectually challenged children was organized by our school on 1st and 2nd December 2011 in the school premises.
2011 in the school premises.

The aim was not merely to showcase the abilities of those little ones, but also to give them confidence in interacting with their fellow beings.

Helen Keller had said, “Once I knew only darkness and stillness..My life was without past and future..but, a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness and my heart leaped to the rapture of living.”

Our endeavour is to be that finger so as to make the hearts of those sweet special kids leap to rupture of life.

An overwhelming response from more than 17 schools and centres made the programme a grand success. 1st December 2011 witnessed wonderful & delightful presentation of these children competing in singing, dance, instrumental & fancy dress categories. 2nd December 2011was the day marked for field and recreational events like shuttle, frog and 100 meters races (for various age groups).

Asha Special School of Dwarka scored maximum points thus bagging the Best School Trophy.

Picture slideshow customized with Smilebox

By: Ms. Monika Uppal
Teacher Co-coordinator
Saint Mark’s Sr. Sec. Public School,Janakpuri
New Delhi , India

Giving for the Holidays

Students at Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park Illinois share the spirit of giving.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=8460217

GVC Students Give Back to the World Community!

Patch.com highlights Mann students' gift to Hephzibah and donation of their GVC prize money to the orphanage in Cote d'Ivoire. These students, very dedicated to "lacing up the digital divide" donated their $1000 first prize money to the orphanage for technology in their library.


In a similar move, teacher and students of Denmark Empowerment Charter School in Denmark, Wisconsin, USA, donated their first place $1000 prize money to Give Something Back International Foundation for the "build a school" in Haiti project.

Cranes for Kids: Giving Hope to the Children of Japan

In Japanese culture, cranes are a powerful symbol of health and well-wishes. In fact, the Japanese people believe that anyone who makes 1,000 origami cranes will have a wish granted. While we can’t grant every wish, we can make a difference. Students in the Lincoln Technology Club made 95 PAPER CRANES to send to the Oshkosh B'Gosh company. The company in turn will be donating a NEW article of clothing to the earthquake and tsunami survivors for every paper crane they receive- that's 95 pieces of clothing from the Lincoln Tech Club!

GVC Students in the News

Students at Horace Mann elementary school make and sell lanyards to help "lace up the Digital Divide". Read about their entrepreneurial efforts to bring the orphanage into the 21st century.

Reaching Out To Our Community

by: Aline Teresa L. Mendoza - PHL

This is my second year in GVC and this time our team mates are from Thailand and US and we are GVC 10-26. The entire duration of this project was really very amazing. The most amazing part about joining GVC is that they are teaching us about giving ourselves to others. They encourage us to give something back to our community.

Our school this year have the same goal, the entire school year, our school's administrators encouraged every year level to do community outreach work, and the entire school studentry responded. Our fourth year students helped the nearby community by donating food, and clothes to families who experienced fire. Our third year students, went to different public schools and teach elementary students.

While our second year students, went to Gawad Kalinga to help in building of houses. Then our first year students went to different orphanages to donate food and clothings. Sadly, our documentations on the above activities were very poor, so I do not have any pictures so we could share our experiences.

We also came up with an idea of selling Filipino food during our YMSAT (Science) week (Jan 24 to Jan 29) to raise funds for the godparent program of our school's foundation. We did it during our Science week, because there would be a lot of students and teachers coming in from different schools. The godparent program of our foundation is to really help financially the poorest of our students. Unfortunately, we did not raised a lot of money, but at least the intention was there. While we were raising money, we were also talking to different students and teachers from other schools regarding GVC and its objectives.


Recently, we just had our Students Get Artsy and Takbuhan Pisay. In Students Get Artsy, selected students of our school including my GVC students taught arts (performing and visual arts) to different public schools in Metro Manila.




While Takbuhan Pisay, is a fun run to raise funds for Parent Teacher Association to support various projects of our school. Several of my GVC students also joined in the fun run.




I would repeat everything next school year and get to meet different people again or maybe reconnect with old friends in GVC. :)

Giving Back

A group of students from a "charm School" group in New Jersey (USA) are helping me to fight against prematurity. Personally, I lost 4 children due to prematurity complications, and my twins were also premature. This medical mystery has effected me greatly. My twins are now healthy, strong 4 year olds. This year I will walk in the March of Dimes, Walk for Babies. You can learn more about my story and how we are giving back to this cause at: http://wellinswalkforbabies.blogspot.com

ECO CLUB -- SMS Janak Puri, India

Eco- Club “Vasudha” of St. Marks Sr. Sec Public School, Janakpuri has been working tirelessly since 1999 to add up its contribution to improve the challenging environmental conditions. The coordinators and club members have undertaken various environmental friendly activities like tree plantation, campaigns against noise and air pollution and the awareness campaigns amongst the society like “No Plastic for me”, “Say no to crackers” and the most important one the “Cleanliness Drive”.

Keeping in mind “COMING TOGETHER IS A BEGINNING, KEEPING TOGETHER IS PROGRESS,WORKING TOGETHER IS SUCCESS”, the club has joined hands with The Art of Living in its Clean Delhi- NCR Drive campaign for which the school has adopted A-3 block of Janakpuri for spreading awareness to keep the surroundings clean.

Reported by Vinayak Goyal

Working For A Cause -- SMS Janak Puri, India

“A SURE WAY FOR ONE TO LIFT HIMSELF UP IS BY HELPING TO LIFT SOMEONE ELSE”

Whenever there is a call for Social and community work SMS Janak Puri has never left any stone unturned . We are aware of our social responsibilities and are trying to lend a helping hand to those less privileged than us.

The students interacted with village Students and learnt the way they lead their lives. They visited their respective homes, shared much information, played Cricket and sketched some drawings with them. Our students also gave some gifts to them which brought smiles on their faces. It was a wonderful experience to cherish.

“GOONJ” AN N.G.O, WORKING FOR THE UNDERPRIVILEGED CHILDREN

Our school participated in a 3 day interaction programme called “PRATIBIMB-2009” organized by GOONJ, an NGO and received the third prize amongst 18 schools in the “Seeking Solutions” event for presenting a mime on rural problems. The mime depicted how the unscientific beliefs of illiterate rural people in “quacks” & “ojhas” can ruin them.

The school received a trophy and a certificate for their presentation.

S.M.S Faculty contributed items such as stationary, woollens, soft toys in large bulk for the underprivileged children this year as well. It is a regular feature of the school which involves the students from all the classes right from class I to class XII making them realize their moral responsibility towards the underprivileged children and thus sensitizing values of consideration and humanity amongst young hearts.

HELP AGE INDIA
Under the aegis of Help Age India, the students of our school contributed Rs. 67,738/- in order to support the senior citizens of our country, When Bihar was devastated by floods, the children of our school contributed 1050 Kgs. of rice and 50 Kgs. of pulses to help the people in their hour of crisis. The students of SMS contributed an amount of Rs. 67,738 towards the “School Education Cum Fund Raising Programme” under the aegis of Helpage India given by our Chairman Mr. T.P Aggarwal to Manjeet Singh , Sr. Manager of Helpage India.

Our school is closely associated with NGOs Prerna Niketan & Muskaan. Prerna Niketan is a voluntary organization working for the physically challenged people. Muskaan is a vocational training centre where intellectually challenged and differently able children are trained.
Diwali Mela’s are organized by the NGO’s like Prerna NIketan and Muskan in our school on regular basis. The students are encouraged to buy their products as the proceeds from them go for a noble cause.

Reported by Vinayak Goyal

HELPING FOCUS SMSMB

It had all the ingredients of a cultural festival - music, dance, and even a rock band; what set it apart was the fact that the event has been conceived and executed entirely by visually impaired people.Aimed at sensitising people about those who are unable to see, visually-challenged anchors, dancers and rock-band artists came together to put up a show at Pragati Maidan here on Sunday evening to mark World Sight Day."India houses the world's largest population of blind people. Of the 37 million blind people across the globe, over 15 million are from India," said Suman, a software engineer and one of the visually-challenged presenters at the function.The event was organised by Antardrishti, an initiative for reformation and rehabilitation of visually and physically challenged people."Despite all the literary progress, visually impaired people are treated as dependent and in certain cases even as beggars. On the one hand their family disowns them or treats them as a liability and on the other various mafias use them for beggary. This section still craves for acceptance by the society," says Pratichhaya, a visually-impaired student of the Lady Shri Ram College who participated in the event.She also said that ensuring employment is an important tool of empowerment for the visually-challenged."We have set up factories exclusively for the people from the visually and physically challenged population, where they are employed on wages to produce candles and herbal soaps.They are also engaged in terracotta (diya) painting and garment stitching. The products, hence made, are put on sale at shoppers' hub like Gandhi Mela and Delhi Haat. The earnings go to their welfare fund," points out Deepa Kaushik, Co-ordinator Antardrishti Project.Apart from this, the employees are also entitled to the Provident Fund and ESI facilities, like any other central or state government employee, she adds A band of visually-impaired artistes performed popular numbers like "Allah ke Bande," "Maula Mere" as well as self-composed songs during the event to mark the World Sight Day.Pop singer Jasbir Jassi who was present on the occasion said, "India is a land of invincible talent. All they need is recognition. It feels proud to see visually impaired people perform with such zeal that I could hardly make out that these people cannot really see their instruments.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO VIEW THE EVENT ON YOU TUBE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYsQ7_vByAU
Reported by Sarojini ( A member of SAM) Student of St Mark’s Sr Secondary Public School Meera Bagh New Delhi, India

HELPING FOCUS SMSMB

REPORT ON PRERNA NIKETAN

Prerna Niketan is a voluntary organization working for the society especially the physically challenged children. Ms Mrinal Kanta Saxena
(Ms Meenu Saxena) is the founder and the president of this organization. Prerna
Niketan was established on 23rd November 1998 with only 5 children. At present, there are 51 children (only boys) from 8 yrs to 19 yrs of age. Due to shortage of space girls are not included.

AIM OF THIS ORGANIZATION

Actually, Ms Meenu wanted to do something for the society as she thinks God has given us this human body to do constructive things. So she came up with the idea of establishing such an organization. Prerna Niketan helps the youngsters get over their insecurities and imparts in them the life skills needed to contribute to society on equal
terms and also encourages parents to provide their children suffering from some diseases like polio, with medical treatment. Children here are also given vocational training like candle making, diya making, flower pots, craft items, etc

CONTRIBUTION OF OUR SCHOOL

Our school organizes the Diwali Mela every year where organizations like Prerna Niketan and many more come and display their products. School teachers and students buy these products and provide a helping hand to such children and organizations.

Reported by Danish Girdhar Sarojini Mahajan

HELPING FOCUS SMSMB

MUSKAAN – A CREATIVE SMILE

Muskaan is a vocational training centre where intellectually
challenged and differently abled children are trained. The children are split in various units which are under rotation. Some units are bakery unit, candles and diya unit, gifts and stationary unit, etc. Here children are taught how to make these beautiful things. The items and products produced by MUSKAAN are put for sale in different schools. The money earned is utilized for the children’s education, betterment and their upbringing. They become independ

MUSKAAN AND ST. MARK’S

The students of our school, ST. MARK’S SR. SEC. PUBLIC SCHOOL, eagerly wait for the MUSKAAN CAMP, which is just put before the auspicious festival, DEEPAWALI. Our school and MUSKAAN promote an eco-friendly and green DEEPAWALI. Diyas, candles and paper hand bags of many varieties are sold. Students and teachers enthusiastically participate in this camp. This thereby promotesa pollution free DEEPAWALI. Teachers have also come forward with full zeal and zest. They are actively participating with MUSKAAN and teach our students how to save our environment by promoting a pollution free DEEPAWALI and hence working for a social cause. We salute the spirit of MUSKAAN.

Reported By Ravit, Malik Class10G
St Mark's Senior Secondary Public School
Meera Bagh, New Delhi, India

Hair for Cancer

During the 2009/2010 GVC contest, Erin was Skyping students in Croatia. One of the students commented, "your hair is really long." It was then that I first found out about Erin's hair donations! She told the students in Croatia how she has been growing her hair to donate for wigs for children with cancer. Not only that, but this would be her 4th such donation. I'd asked Erin at the time to do a before/after picture for this blog. She agreed, but said it would be awhile since her hair was not yet long enough. (Now you may not know, but the cut hair piece needs to be 8 to 12 inches in length. Hair only grows about 1/2 inch per month, so that's a good two year commitment!)

In Erin's own words, "This past summer was really hard. It was so hot, but the hair still needed to grow a bit more."

And here it is; the before and after. Erin is now in month 1 of growing her next donation.

Kids CAN make a difference!