Some two-dozen central Iowa students and their teacher are going to an extreme next week as part of Earth Day events. Dawn Scholtens teaches second grade at Sunset Heights Elementary School in Webster City and she explains the basics of how they’re trying to both raise funds for charity and conserve water.
“It’s called Shower Strike and it is to raise money to build a well for a school in Kenya where they do not have running water,” Scholtens says. “For the week of April 22nd, we’re promising to not take a shower or a bath until we’ve raised a thousand dollars to help build that well.”
She says she and her students have differing motivations about this event. Scholtens says, “The boys and girls are very excited at the possibility of not having to take a shower and I’m hoping to very quickly raise the one-thousand dollars.” She says it’s good to get children involved in this sort of a project at a young age, and they won’t be alone in the endeavor.
“Each group that does the Shower Strike tries to raise one-thousand dollars,” she says. “A total of $40,000 is needed to build the one well. There are school groups and service groups across the country who are taking part in this, trying to raise that $40,000 for the well.”
The school where the well is to be constructed is located not far from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. Scholtens says the school is for special needs children, most of whom have been abandoned because of their disabilities — and they live at the school.
Learn more and donate at: www.showerstrike.com
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City