Area schools holding events to raise funds for tsunami victims

By Tracy Tong

Staff Writer

Students from 10 area schools will raise money for their counterparts in Sri Lanka at three fundraising events this month.

The events are part of an Upper Canada District School Board Character Education Initiative that will involve 46 schools and is designed to raise thousands of dollars to build schools for children in tsunami-devastated Sri Lanka.

At the beginning of the school year, the board challenged all of its schools to participate in the Toronto-based Free The Children Foundation's Brick by Brick School Building Campaign to build a school in Ampara, Sri Lanka.

Students from eight Brockville schools will host an arts festival on Friday, February 10 to raise money for students halfway around the world.

Thousand Islands Secondary School, Brockville Collegiate Institute, Lyn Public School, the Prince of Wales Public School, Westminster Public School, Commonwealth Public School, Vanier Public School, Toniata Public School are all contributing to the Brick by Brick Build a School Festival of the Arts Celebration that will take place at TISS.

The students have been working on the event since early October, preparing dances, dramas and musical performances for the night. Student-created art and shop creations will be displayed and available for sale in the silent auction. Other students have designed a magazine comprised of student-created literature and art.

The fundraising campaign is a major initiative of the board's character education program.

Published in Section A, page 3 in the Saturday, February 4, 2006 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times. [Source]