THE BRIDGE ACADEMY – PHILANTHROPY IN ACTION

THE BRIDGE ACADEMY – PHILANTHROPY IN ACTION

• As part of a year long fundraising initiative, including a walkathon, the students of The Bridge Academy collected over $5,000 to purchase supplies for a New Orleans based special needs school destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

• The students corresponded with the school, updating them on their fundraising initiative and determining what supplies would most benefit the students.

• As a final step in this initiative the students, organized by their individual “Social Houses” (a group of various age students who meet throughout the year to conduct community service, peer support/role modeling and positive behavior initiatives) took a field trip to Wal-Mart to purchase the supplies.

• Each Social House had $500 dollars to purchase the items. They conducted a meeting prior to the outing, to investigate costs, create a preliminary budget and determine on site rules and shopping strategy (since their was limited time.)

An Inside Look

THE BRIDGE ACADEMY – PHILANTHROPY IN ACTION

• I was assigned a Social House and worked with my “team” prior to and during the outing. My main contribution prior to the outing was providing insight into the store layout, pricing and inventory.

• My main contribution day of, was tallying up the items as they were placed in the shopping cart to assure we did not exceed our budget.

This proved to be a bit challenging as we needed to take in mind all costs associated with a purchase (e.g. batteries) and the various age range of the students (e.g. DVD’s from pre-K to 6th grade)

• All of the students, not only those in my group, seemed very conscious of their responsibilities/goal and extremely proud of the activities that brought them to this point.

An Inside Look

THE BRIDGE ACADEMY – PHILANTHROPY IN ACTION

•Upon returning back to The Bridge Academy there was a school wide “shipping party”, where all the items were inventoried, bubble wrapped and labeled.

•Each “Social House” included a letter with their supplies that talked about the members, where they lived, what they liked/disliked and their hopes for this school and it’s students.

•They also sent a school wide PowerPoint that featured each students picture, profile, a short written sentiment and pictures of their fundraising activities.

• I was so happy to be a part of this initiative, even if at the tail end.

I believe this is an experience these students will carry with them way beyond their years at The Bridge Academy.

An Inside Look