“We do pretty well for a small school.”

As a followup to the MHS Students Working in Community post on March 24, the BCCT has an update. I love the last line though. For all you anti-Morrisville school people, read and be ashamed and ask yourself: What did YOU do to help other than to come out to a board meeting and trample on the work of these students and their teachers?

Sneakers make tracks to Africa

By MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times

Do you have any sneakers hanging around unused at home?

Don't throw them away.

Drop them off at Morrisville Middle/Senior High School, where students are trying to collect at least 600 pairs to help families in African villages.

So far, National Honor Society adviser Elizabeth Glaum-Lathbury and her middle school counterpart, Patti Ebert, who represents the school's 21st Century Service Learning Club, have collected about 70 pairs for the project.

The money made from refurbishing and selling the sneakers could kick-start a new family farm or provide clean drinking water.

“We get to help other kids who aren't as fortunate. It's something we can do to help kids on another continent,” said Kyle Burger, a sophomore and one of the 25 members of the honor society.

Glaum-Lathbury saw the idea in a National Honor Society Leadership magazine, in which she read about Perpetual Prosperity Pumps Foundation. It's a nonprofit organization trying to collect sneakers across the nation.

While the foundation wants only sneakers in adult sizes seven and larger, Glaum-Lathbury and Ebert welcome people to clean their closets of any size.

“I'll give the smaller sizes to other organizations, like the Red Cross or the Salvation Army,” said Glaum-Lathbury, who has gathered 25 to 30 small pairs so far.

Her classroom has a round bin about 4 feet high that's filling up with athletic footwear. The side of the bin is printed with a vertical ruler displaying what the old footwear could buy. For instance, 50 sneakers can purchase a bicycle. Three hundred is good for a colonized bee hive, which could serve as a starter hive for a honey farmer. Five hundred sneakers are enough for a quarter acre of a vegetable farm, while 600 sneakers buy more than a year of training in intensive organic farming.

Irrigation systems, malaria medication and micro-finance training are just a few of the other possible long-term benefits.

Glaum-Lathbury handed out fliers about the program to students from sixth to 12th grade, and Ebert and another teacher distributed fliers to community groups. Students passed along the message to donate sneakers among friends and family.

Kyle said he would like to do more service projects that touch international communities.

Right now, the students are involved in other, locally oriented service projects.

Both middle school and high school students will walk up to 8 miles in Newtown's Tyler State Park to raise money for multiple sclerosis on May 4.

The students try to do 10 service projects a year, including a monthly food drive with a specific theme, like juice, baby food and cereal.

A future idea to raise donations is to charge both a bit of cash and a donated item like a sneaker or a can of food to get into a school dance, said Ebert.

“Next year we'll try to team up and get someone from Philabundance [hunger relief organization] to talk about what's needed in area communities,” said Glaum-Lathbury. “It would give students a true picture of what's needed.”

Then the students can pick better themes for food collection next year, she said.

“We do pretty well for a small school.”

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

For more information about the nonprofit Perpetual Prosperity Pumps Foundation and a comprehensive list of sneaker collection sites, go to http://www.pppafrica.org/. You can drop off your old sneakers and soccer cleats at the Morrisville Middle/Senior High School's front office, at 550 West Palmer St. in Morrisville.

Manasee Wagh can be reached at 215-949-4206 or mwagh@phillyBurbs.com.

April 7, 2008 5:07 AM