April 7, 2009

30-hour Famine by Springvalley Middle School raises $11,500 for World Vision

KELOWNA, BC: More than 100 students and staff at Springvalley Middle School will go hungry for 30 hours beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, April 8. Their fast is intended to draw attention to the plight of thousands of people around the world each day who starve and to make a positive difference through World Vision. Participants held bottle and penny drives and collected pledges from relatives, friends, and neighbours to raise $11,500 to date.

“Every 7 seconds a child somewhere on our planet dies from hunger,” says Al Aeckersberg, a teacher at Springvalley Middle School. “Nearly 5 million children under the age of five die of hunger every year. With the rising cost of food and fuel, a hundred million more people will fall into poverty this year. World Vision is involved in many different projects around the world, however, their main focus, and the area that they pour most of their resources is to end child poverty and famine around the world.”

“We have amazing students at Springvalley Middle School who want to make a positive difference in the world. We want to raise funds to reduce poverty but to also get a small sense of what it must feel like to go to bed hungry.”

This is the first year that students and staff at Springvalley Middle School have held this type of fundraiser. The project is the initiative of 30 students in the Builders Club led by teachers Hope Voykin and Ryan Wakefield. They received a package of information from World Vision on how to plan the event and ideas on collecting money. With a noble idea and a proven plan, this dedicated group inspired dozens of other students to join them in helping to save lives worldwide.

During the 30-hour Famine, participants will only be allowed to drink small amounts of fruit juice and eat one bowl of rice. Activities will include indoor climbing, gladiator, and presentations from several people who have done international relief work. To prevent any midnight refrigerator runs and to keep up morale, fasters will sleep overnight at the school then break their fast at 6:01 a.m. on Thursday. Principal Derek Lea and Vice-Principal Bob Dickeson will cook pancakes for the group.

Last year, World Vision helped to feed 11,250 malnourished children in Congo, provided safe water access to 15,000 people in Malawi, helped improve the rights of 4,280 children in Uganda and Sri Lanka, and helped 256,597 people in India in their fight against tuberculosis.

Approved by the Superintendent on April 6, 2009

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For comments, please contact:

Al Aeckersberg, Teacher, Springvalley Middle School, (250) 862-3274

Ryan Wakefield, Teacher, Springvalley Middle School, (250) 862-3274

Hope Voykin, Teacher, Springvalley Middle School, (250) 862-3274

Mike Roberts, Superintendent of Schools (250) 860-8888

For background information, please contact Lisa Harrison lharriso@sd23.bc.ca or 470-3284.