By rdnewsNOW staff

friday fundraiser

Grade 5 students raising funds for children affected by leprosy

May 23, 2019 | 10:33 AM

This Friday (May 24), Grade 5 students at G.W. Smith School in Red Deer hope to collect enough bottles to send approximately $500 to help children affected by leprosy and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

“We read a book at the beginning of the school year about a young person with facial deformities and the difficulties (and celebrations) he faced as a young boy,” says teacher Laurie Boven, referring to Wonder by R. J. Palacio. “I saw effect:hope’s commercial and wanted our fundraising activity to bring awareness to people who are sometimes marginalized or treated poorly because of their differences.”

effect:hope is an international development organization based in Markham, Ontario, that has helped people with leprosy and other NTDs since 1892. Approximately 600 people are diagnosed with leprosy every day, of which 50 are children. The disease causes severe, disfiguring skin sores and nerve damage and left untreated, leads to disability.

“The stigma associated with having this disease is often worse than the disease itself,” says Deb Hopper, senior development manager, effect:hope. “It’s heartbreaking that children who contract the disease and begin to show deformities can be kicked out of school, bullied and hidden away from their community.”

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Students at G.W. Smith hope to help children by collecting bottles through their annual kindness project. Previous initiatives include cleaning up the community, donating books to less fortunate schools and helping the school through Christmas cards.

“I hope students will learn more about compassion and kindness through the bottle drive,” says Boven. “And we hope to help as many children as we can who are fighting leprosy and other diseases.”

(Submitted)