I didn't know anything about the earthquake. Facebook kept on giving me notifications to donate to some victims of an earthquake. So I finally clicked on the link to learn about the earthquake. The first picture I saw was one of a man and his wife, both crying and stumbling in the street. The damage was more than I thought could really happen. It was horrible! So I texted Nancy, saying that we should make a school fundraiser for Nepal. I wasn't sure what we should do to raise money, so I thought and thought. I was playing MineCraft when my little sister, Elisha, showed me this super cool bookmark that she made up! I thought that they would be perfect to sell for the fundraiser, so I asked her. For two dollars I could copy her design (She really wants money for some Heeleys), and I started making them the next day! Lots of kids at school helped and soon we had 15 waterproof bookmarks. Some with Nepal related things written and drawn on them, and some with just designs on them. Lots of kids have been helping with the bookmarks and we have lots! We are so excited to make a large donation to the orphange in Nepal!!

 

-Alona, 12 (Website designer, Founder of Bookmarks for Nepal)

 

 

After the earthquake, one of my students, Alona, texted me and said she wanted to do something to raise money for Nepal. That same day, I also received an email from Jerry Mintz, the founder of the Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) saying that a personal friend of his in Nepal needed help. With so many types of aid organizations out there, sometimes it is hard to know which to donate to. Knowing that Jerry, who I know through working with starting this school and continuing to work with to support other alternative schools to start, knew the founder of Sri Aurobindu Ashram and Orphanage helped me feel like we could directly impact a community. The founder of Sri Aurobindu delivered a keynote at last year's AERO Conference about running a self-sustaining orphanage, which you can watch here. I am glad I could connect Alona's desire to help those in Nepal with Sri Aurobindo, who has had $100,000 worth of damage done to their buildings (including the loss of their school and barn). I am excited to support this initiative and hope all those who see this website will spread the word! You can donate directly to Sri Aurobindo here through the AERO website! 

 

-Nancy, 31 (Supporter, driver to get materials, maker of signs, Faciliator at ALC Mosaic)

 

 

On Monday some weeks ago, Alona announced at Morning Meeting that she wanted to help Nepal by making bookmarks to sell. I met with her after meeting and told her that I'd love to help. Really, that's all there is to my part of the story.

-Emilia, 11 (Decorater of Bookmarks)