Vassar STAND is already busy planning events for our first semester of the 2009-2010 school year:

Dunk for Darfur
Jamnesty Concert

See the Events tab for more information!

http://www.northjersey.com/education/47172672.html

By Allison Pries Staff Writer

Fashion and Facebook aren't the only things on the minds of some Ramsey High School students.

The ethnic genocide taking place half a world away in Darfur has them giving up their Starbucks and donating the money to help refugees, writing letters to corporations and bending the ears of local congressmen.

About two dozen students at the school belong to a club called STAND that seeks to increase awareness about the killing of thousands in the Sudan.

On Saturday June 6, 2009, a group of concerned Fall Mountain students lead a community information night. The students made their own t-shirts that were sold for fund raising; some of them also baked good for donations. The community was informed on Darfur's situation and were asked to write letters to either an elected official or a media station. 49 letters were collected as well as over 50 signatures for a petition. The group also raised close to $500 for Global Grassroots, an organization that works directly with the survivors of Darfur who now live in the refugee camps in Chad.

Dollars for Darfur video created Monday, June 1st! On Tuesday, June 2nd it was uploaded to youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijEALuuSuqY

Just check it out, and if you'd like to make donations, stop by MDI high school, on Friday, June 5th!

I just wanted to give a special thanks to Ron Greenburg, Jeff Zaman, and all of the students and teachers who helped out.

STAND meeting this Wednesday (6/3/09) at 3 pm in Mrs. Sciallo's room!
We'll be talking about some goals (for this summer and late fall), a quick news update, committees, and teach-ins.

Looking for members. Anyone can join but it will be helpful if you are in the Perrysburg area. New ideas for events and sponsors are greatly appreciated. Raising money is not my strong suit so if you want to help out please do. As I already said we are looking for things to do to help out. Any information on things we could do around the area would help a lot. Thanks guys

It seems we started too late in the year for a club or a fundraiser. One effective thing we can do individually is write letters to politicians. Go to www.darfurscores.org to get addresses and evaluations of Pennsylvanian politicians. The government is of the people, by the people, and for the people, so you'd better believe your voice can make a difference.

We raised about $350. this Friday for our Sister School, the New Sudan School, in Djebal Camp, Chad, for refugees of the Darfur Genocide. We had some amazing acts, and we also had two students, Amira Downes, and Zach Jamous, translating into Arabic for our Darfuri friends. We plan to send them clips of the show with the translations, so they can see how much our community supports them. We had each person who attended sign a card to send to them, as well.

This week Alex and I will be handing out advocacy postcards that will eventually go to the White House. Make sure you get one and fill them out!! Give them back to us and we will send them in.
Thanks a ton.