Covy Moore/Rocky View Publishing

Students from the Me to We leadership group at Nose Creek Elementary School pose for a photo, Jan. 12. The group is trying to raise $8,700 for a village in Mwangaza, Kenya.

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Local students raising money for African children

A group of tenacious students at Nose Creek Elementary are hoping to raise $8,700 to help provide a new school to an African village.

The Me to We campaign includes grade 1-4 students who are using creative fundraising to bring education to Mwangaza, Kenya.

The students are working with the school’s Child Development Advisor Robert MacLellan to raise the funds.

“We’ve been raising money through different little projects,” he said. “Each project has different name.”

Some of those creative names include Buck-a-Brick, where people can purchase a paper brick for one dollar, Cookies for Dough and Change 4 Change. The school is accepting bottle donations on a continual basis.

So far, the group has raised about $3,000.

Grade 3 student Gracie Brade went to a Free the Children conference with her father last spring in Vancouver and said what she learned made an impact on her, so she brought it back to her Airdrie school.

“It was really cool,” she said. “I got to meet a lot of people.”

The kids plan on generating other new ideas in order to help the children in Mwangaza.

“It’s a little bit tricky to find ideas to fundraise, but it’s very fun,” said Ben Schmiedge, a Grade 3 student. “We put ideas on a piece of paper, then pick which ideas are better.”

The children even went as far as donating last year’s Halloween candy for money.

They joked it was difficult parting with their treats.

MacLellan said they would participate with Free the Children again.

“Their need right now is a school,” he said. “They are our adopted village. We will find out what they need and supply it. It could be wells, maybe housing or school supplies.”