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Making Change
Students in North Carolina collect for construction

The relationship between Cornelius Elementary School and Our Towns Habitat in Cornelius, N.C., was a surprise for executive director Terry Laney from the beginning: The school's faculty committed the school to raise the funds to build an entire house at their very first meeting.

"I was so emotionally overcome by their positive 'can do' attitudes that, yes, they would raise the money, all of it, and, yes, they would build I then said I could give them some ideas for raising the money, and the principal, Dr. Morris, held up her hands and said, 'We have that covered,'" Laney says.

Indeed they did. Two classes from the first and fourth grades found cougar paw-print stamps and sold stamps to their fellow students for 25 cents on "Spirit Fridays." A second-and-fifth-grade team made and sold jingle bell necklaces during the holidays. Several times throughout the year, classes made greeting cards that students could send to their friends throughout the school, bringing in hundreds of dollars.

Faculty, staff and parents stood solidly behind the students' efforts and launched a few endeavors of their own. The faculty of Cornelius challenged a neighboring elementary school's faculty to a free basketball game and took up $10,000 in donations from the crowd who came watch. Also, parents, staff members, community supporters and principals of other schools designated their United Way contributions to Cornelius Elementary and raised almost $9,000.

By December, the school had raised between $10,000 and $12,000, and Laney was invited to speak at that month's character education assembly on the character trait of the month: caring.

"Each class came forward to present what they had raised in different sacks, bags, cans, whatever would hold the weight of the coins," Laney says. "They told of the different things they did to raise the money. That day all who were present--teachers, parents, students--all joined hands support of Habitat. It was an awesome day for me."

The school fundraisers continued with the second semester, but teacher Leticia Trower was witnessing a change of heart within the students that was even more touching, she says. "More than once, Dr. Morris looked up to find a student in her office with a Ziploc bag full coins and a story about selling lemonade or making greeting cards to raise more money for the Habitat house," she says. "These students went out and staged fundraisers all on their own, simply because they were inspired by our efforts at school.

"In the end, all those quarters added up to a decent house for a family who needed it. I think that really drove home the idea that every little bit helps, and that every one of us can work to make a difference."

Trower took the school-wide challenge to make a difference personally, as well. When Laney had made his initial presentation, Trower was interested to hear about Our Towns Habitat's tithe relationship with Guatemala. A Spanish speaker, she stopped by the affiliate's offices to find out how she could help and soon was volunteering as a translator for a Hispanic couple in the process of applying for house. The relationship between Trower and that family became even sweeter as the couple was selected for the house the elementary school was building.

Laney anticipates that the students' involvement in building a Habitat house will have an impact in the future even beyond the single house they funded. "The students at Cornelius Elementary became great ambassadors for Habitat," he says. "We were already involved with Youth United and had been focused on high school and college-age students. Cornelius Elementary showed us that age did not matter. They will be the leaders of tomorrow in this world and will grow to be advocates for Habitat, as well as volunteers, donors and shoppers in our ReStore."

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