翻译

Second-Graders Raise Funds for Door of Hope

Nancy Ward
Clairbourn's second grade class successfully completed their 20th consecutive service learning fundraiser for the Door of Hope homeless shelter for families in Pasadena. They presented a check for $1,137.67 to the Door of Hope Executive Director Megan Katerjian, on Friday April 26, 2019, at the school's Morning Assembly. Their presentation included highlights from their week of sorting, counting, and weighing the donated coins and bills which they collected from the Clairbourn.  They found all kinds of entertaining donations, in addition to US coins.  They found coins from Costa Rica, Mexico, Serbia, Hong Kong, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and Slovakia. They also found flattened pennies, tokens for Disneyland, and even the bottom half of a broken key.  Overall they counted and sorted $371.67 in coins and $766 in bills, all of which will be used by the Door of Hope to feed families in their care for a little over four months. 

Clairbourn students sort and count pocket change collected for the Door of Hope during their service learning project.
Executive Director Megan Katerjian explains that it only takes $39 a month to feed a family at the Door of Hope, so the money raised by Clairbourn second-graders will provide a total of 2,644 individual meals.  The Door of Hope is a special homeless facility because they keep families together. About 2/3 of their residents are children, and they not only provide these families with three meals a day, but they also provide after-school programming, job search support for the parents, family therapy, and a new housing situation for the families after 6 months in the program.  Their success rate is impressive, and 97% of families who go through the Door of Hope program are still in their new homes a year later.  Even after 5 years or longer, 83% of program graduates have never experienced homelessness again. 

Second-graders presented a check to Door of Hope Executive Director Megan Katerjian at the Clairbourn Morning Assembly on April 26, 2019.
 
Clairbourn Head of School Dr. Patzlaff commented, "People often ask, how can somebody who is only seven years old be a leader?  Well, this is one of the ways that our second-graders get to be leaders. They led this charge to have this service project. They figured out how they could help, they wrote some announcements, they collected the change, and they did the counting. So we have seven year old leaders on this project!"

Anyone who is inspired to support the mission of the Door of Hope further can explore additional volunteer and giving opportunities on the Door of Hope website. (Many of our students have gone on to support the Door of Hope independently as they have grown up and moved on to high school.)
 
Watch Clairbourn second-graders present a check to the Door of Hope Executive Director.
 
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Private School Education for Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary School, & Middle School Grades - Serving Families in the Pasadena Area and Surrounding Cities
Clairbourn is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. (K-12 Private Schools)