School Supplies Drive for School in Syrian Refugee Camp

From October 12th to October 23rd, our Service Learning​Leadership class ran a campus-wide school supplies drive. Mr. Twiet, one of our Peninsula teachers, is Syrian and extremely passionate about the current Syrian refugee crisis. Our class collaborated with him to put together a school supplies drive to benefit the schools he helped to open this past summer in a refugee camp. Our class began by doing research on the current situation in Syria as well as the effects it has had on the Syrian people, many of whom have been forced to flee the country. We were all shocked to learn that in the past several years, approximately only half of all Syrian children within schooling age received any sort of formal education. We decided as a class that we wanted to gather and donate school supplies that could be used by Syrian children attending the schools Mr. Twiet helped to establish in a camp. Through our research we began to understand that while education should be a right and not a privilege, this is not the case for all kids.

​ Throughout the two week drive, SLL students teamed up with a variety of school groups and classes in order to spread information and encourage our fellow panthers to donate. Between a bombardment of Facebook posts, a massive banner on display on our campus’s ampitheater stage, daily reminders in the school bulletin, and an informational “PSA” made with Peninsula’s Eye of the Panther video production class, the word spread quite quickly. We are fortunate to go to a school as wonderful as Peninsula and to be a part of such an active and involved student body. We received so many donations from our fellow panthers that we have spent the past two days arranging and rearranging boxes full of school supplies in our SLL classroom. THANK YOU to everyone who donated!

We are so fortunate to have the active involvement of our peers, and are happy to announce that our Syrian school supplies drive was an overwhelming success! We were hoping for 10 full boxes and just about doubled our goal with 19 and half boxes ready to be included in a larger shipping container headed for relief workers who will ensure the supplies reach their intended dest​ination. ​

Making posters to get the word out.

Organzing the supplies for shipping.

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