Thus far in International Festival, student fundraising has rasied a total of at least $600 dollars for the school service project donations to Global Fund for Children.

International Festival at Paly has proved to be an amazing and sometimes life changing experience for most of those involved. However, this year, as most people have already heard, the International Festival will be different from previous years. In addition to breaking away from the typical one-day festival and creating an entire international month, there is a whole new aspect to the International Festival: fundraising.

After the last International Festival two years ago, students said they wanted to help others across the globe in addition to learning about other cultures. Students are showered with information and insight into many other cultures during this festival. While students love this, throughout the year students have been expressing wishes to give back to some impoverished places they learn about.

Each class has a fundraising goal of $2,000, which will be distributed to different projects within Global Fund for Children to help in some of the most needy countries in the world. The fund is designed to give directly to communities and improve what already exists in a community.

"The Global Fund for Children enhances the culture and the wealth that already exists in a certain area, so the children’s lives are changed in a way that is familiar and beneficial to them," said junior Anique Drumright, who is oranizing much of the fundraising and decorating for the festival.

Each class is assigned to a different organization, each with a separate goal.

The freshmen class will be donating its money to the Synapse Network Center in Dakhar, India. The Synapse Network Center works to help boys who are at risk of being forced into child labor. Their main goal is to educate boys in health, hygiene, personal responsibility, and respect. "This organization really is trying to develop and educate boys as a whole," Drumright said.

The sophomore class is raising money for the Rural Institute Development for Education (R.I.D.E.), located in the Kanchipuram District of India. The area of the Kanchipuram District is so poor that parents must take out loans from silk looms. In exchange for the loans, parents must then loan their children to the silk looms. R.I.D.E. organization works to get children out of silk looms and servitude. Eventually, R.I.D.E. sends these children to public education facilities, but first provides a primitive education for the emotional and social transition the children will encounter. "What I like most about the RIDE organization is that the Rural Entrepreneur Development trains moms to run businesses to avoid falling into the trap of having their children work," Drumright said.

The Foundation for the Development of Needy Communities in Uganda is the organization the junior class will be donating to. A goal of the organization is to help remove poverty from Uganda but also to give help and education about one of the largest problems in Uganda: AIDS. In Uganda, child labor is prevalent and it is hard for children to get an education, so the foundation created a band of about 72 kids and help to channel their energy into positive hobbies such as musicals. On average, these musicals will raise about $ 11,000 for the Uganda community. Currently the organization is collecting money to build a community center in the Mbale District located in Uganda. The community center will serve as a place where children can safely spend their free time. In addition, the community center will serve to educate the community about the HIV/AIDs problem.

The NISHTHA organization located in Baruipur West Bengal, India is the organization that the senior class’ fundraising will benefit. Often times, women in Baruipur West Bengal experience inequality, poverty, and unfair labor conditions, but through combining informal education, health care, and social activism, this organization aims to help girls and women advocate for themselves. "The organization offers classes in reading, math, geography, art, and health. NISHTHA wants to harbor leadership skills in women and inform young women that they have the power to do whatever they want," Drumright said. NISHTHA also councils families and especially young girls about the dangers of early pregnancy.

For each class to raise money during the four weeks of International Festival, each week there will be a fun and different fundraising activity. The first week there were "Penny Wars". Each class had a huge jar to collect money and the objective was to fill the jars with only pennies. However, if there were silver coins in a jar points were deducted from that class’ total score. The second week of the International Festival is devoted to the sale and distribution of pins to help promote world awareness.

"These pins will hopefully be something that the entire school and outside persons will purchase and wear with pride," Drumright said.

The third week of the International Festival will be a car wash on Saturday, March 19. A few clubs have joined together to take on this task of a full-scale car wash. On the El Camino side of Paly, a full car wash will be five dollars, but with an exclusive flyer avaliable next week, students will only need to pay four dollars. The fourth and final week of the International Fundraising will end in a huge barbeque on the Friday of that week.

"Our school has an immense amount of power and I really believe that the International Festival will help all the students realize not only about other cultures but out capability to help other people around the world." Drumright said.

To get involved with the International Festival, students can buy pins, donate money, and promote awareness by visting the guest speakers. In additon, students or anyone else who want to get involved in the International Festival can contact Ms. Vaars for more infomation in the main office.