Water Blogged

Hoboken Charter School’s WET ‘Walk for Water”!

Posted by Joe Kuzelka on May 14, 2019

 

If you’re reading this blog, you know how incredibly important water is for the planet and humankind. However, us humans do enjoy our sunny days! That wasn’t the case for Hoboken Charter school‘s ‘Walk for Water‘ in New Jersey.

Hoboken Charter’s ability to distribute the importance of knowledge with lesson plans and determination with fundraising ideas is truly a global feat! Now if you’re curious as to how Hoboken Charter conducted such an  exemplary effort, please continue to read the following updates from SK Duff & Ian Costello / Coordinators / Hoboken Charter School. Hoboken Charter School has an incredible sense of community!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” 
― Margaret Mead

May 2nd

When the kids do our 2 mile WATER WALK (a week from Friday) for each quarter mile they walk (I.e. the full perimeter of the park) they receive a bead added to a piece of jute affixed to their belt loops…  Starting today and through next week many classes will be making beads of various kinds resembling beads from Africa… Today the 5/6 Art for Art’s Sake kids started making polymer clay beads that resemble glass beads from Ghana. Next Tuesday the 3rd grade Ubuntu kids will be joined by the upper school Student (service) Ambassadors to collaboratively make rolled paper beads after the Bead for Life model (AKA a program that helps to empower African women and helps fund and provide schooling and healthcare for children)… Thus, lessons on top of lessons — so much to learn and EVEN MORE TO DO in preparation! AND Ms. Penna has started conducting water purification demonstrations with her science classes and is helping to further explain the world’s water crisis… Some of the PBL classes have been making signage and posters for the event — while the Parent Organization is rallying together parents who will cheer on walkers (and they are also providing bottled water for all walkers), and Caitlin Loria is organizing Ubuntu parents to bake cookies (to sell for the cause) at the event… Thus, lots of things are underway thanks to the help of many different groups within the K-12 schoolwide community…. Now, YOU need to remember to do your part and get sponsors and pledges for the walk itself!!! 

May 8th

We are almost halfway there having met 48% of our goal which translates to $2,685 raised thus far for our water project for the Ikoli Primary School in western Kenya…
Yesterday the Ubuntu kids and upper school Ambassadors made a surplus of beads together… …Because for each 1/4 mile that a student walks on Friday, they will get a student-made bead replicating specific styles of beads from Africa as incentive to keep walking…  Tomorrow I will distribute strips of waxed cord for teachers to distribute on Friday to hold the kids’ beads at the walk itself. We’ll tie the cord to belt loops OR safety pin it to shirts if there is no belt loop. Look for cord and pins to arrive on Thursday for you to distribute to your classes on Friday for the walk itself…
Kids are involved from many angles… Everyone is doing their part! AND today I received word from Steve Hall at H2O for Life that our project has just been completed!
H2o update 1783
May 9th
We’re down to the wire for tomorrow’s WATER WALK! Today the kids are busy making signage for the event, parents are bringing in card tables, the Ubuntu parents are all baking cookies and Ms. O’Connell’s car trunk is loaded full of over 300 bottles of water for the walkers tomorrow… AND now there is soooooo much packing to do & we’re grateful to Ms. Diaz who is going to drive stuff over to Pier A for us (saving us the expense of renting a van)… It takes a village — INDEED — and ours AKA “Our Ubuntu” is pulling together for the cause in grand form!
The Big Day
The saying goes, “April showers bring May flowers.” Well Mother Nature had one more shower for the beginning of May. As students and teachers began their walk to better understand the difficulties and challenges of transporting water over a long distance, the skies began to douse them with water. This was only the beginning of the excitement for Hoboken Charter.

The good news is that Hoboken Charter needed to raise $5,638 as committed for their water projects at the Ikoli School in Kenya and we raised OVER $9,100! We didn’t get to experience all of the “details” planned for the walk before the sky opened up and delivered spectacular special effects for a WATER WALK! …Things like the sculpture trees for the water bottles…  OR everyone obtaining their beads for each quarter mile walked.

The good news is that THIS will certainly be a memorable “Water Walk” and most importantly we have made it possible for kids at Ikoli to have a changed life. Clean water is available to them now because of a little school a world away in NJ! We are VERY proud of all of you and appreciate your going with the flow today (in more ways than one)!

Hoboken Charter has been partnering with H2O for Life since 2007. In that time, Hoboken Charter has raised a total of $49,541 for clean water efforts in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Nigeria, and Afghanistan. To get started on your schools worldly efforts, please visit our website to create a personal fundraising page today!

Recent Posts

Blog Archive