Redcliff's Margaret Wooding School raised over $900 to finance the adoption of eight Rwandan gorillas; three infants, a pair of adolescent siblings, a mother and baby and a Silverback.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
kking@medicinehatnews.com
What began as a school reading project became a collaborative stewardship initiative when students, staff and supporters of Redcliff’s Margaret Wooding School came together and raised more than $900 to support the welfare of gorillas in Rwanda.
“As a school, we decided to do a One School, One Book project, which involves the whole school – staff and students – all reading the same book at the same time,” school librarian Celena Gurl told the News. “The book that we chose was The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.
An illustrated novel, The One and Only Ivan tells the story of a gorilla named Ivan who lived in an enclosure at a shopping mall.
The novel explores Ivan’s relationship with humans, the other animals who live at the mall – an elephant named Stella and a stray dog named Bob – as well as themes of friendship, loyalty, grief, loneliness, animal rights and helping others.
“We had a bunch of different activities happening at the school throughout the six weeks that would get (students) excited about wanting to go home and read the book,” said Gurl.
“One of the activities was through the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, which is the huge gorilla sanctuary in Rwanda. They have an opportunity where you can adopt gorillas. And what the adoption really means is the money you give them (to adopt) provides the gorillas with food, shelter and medicine for a year.”
Eight gorillas, some in pairs, were available for adoption through the foundation. Originally, Gurl intended for students to adopt one or two of the gorillas, the adoption fees for which range from $75 to $200. But students insisted on adopting all eight, for a total cost of $700.
Gurl says students, staff and the greater school community joined in efforts to raise the money.
“The first thing we did was a fundraiser which happened every Friday for the six weeks, where if kids wanted to wear hat at school, they donated a loonie,” said Gurl. “Then, we sold bags of cotton candy because that’s tied to the story content … Then, we did a bake sale where we sent a letter to all the Grade 6 parents and asked who wanted to donate, and we had so much baking it was unbelievable.”
In total roughly $920 was raised; $700 of which financed the adoption and the remaining amount donated to the Calgary Zoo.
As well as engaging students in reading and teaching them about stewardship, Gurl says the project is continuing to enthrall students as they now receive written, picture and video updates about the gorillas they adopted.
“The kids are just mesmerized (by the updates),” said Gurl. “And they’re just so excited and so proud that a little school of 160 kids is making that big of an impact.”
