Laissez les
Bon Temps Rouler
GMRP Sponsors 2nd
Annual Carnival Week
By
Anna Duning (February 20, 2007)
In the spirit of Mardi Gras, the George Mason
Relief Project begins its second annual Carnival Week today.
Members of the GMRP club plan to sell Mardi Gras items throughout
the week to raise money for relief organizations in New Orleans
and the Gulf Region. The paraphernalia up for sale consists
of beads, candy gift bags, and masks and all will be available
to purchase in front of the library during nutrition break.
Club members, made up of about 10 active 8th, 9th and
10th graders, have also planned a celebratory “Grand
Masquerade Revival Party” after school on Friday, which will
entail various New Orleans and Mardi Gras traditions including
King Cake. Tickets cost $5 and include a slice of the special
cake and an opportunity to win a prize.
|
The funds raised throughout
the week will be donated to City Year Louisiana, an Americorps
Organization currently
doing recovery work in and around New Orleans. City Year is restricted
to 17 to 24-year-olds, which, members of the GMRP thought resonated
well with their own goals. “It’s about youth empowering themselves
and that’s what we’re doing also,” said Ms. Bianca White, the
GMRP’s faculty sponsor.
The idea of a Carnival Week came
about last winter with students’ desires to support relief efforts
for those areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. This came as no surprise
considering the overwhelming response to the Tsunami disaster
in 2005, in which the George Mason community rallied to raise
$38,000 in a few days. |
|
Ninth grade members of
the George Mason Relief Project, Adeyianka Bowman-Johnson,
Bella Nguyen and Katie Douthitt, show off the Mardi Gras beads
and masks they are selling for Carnival Week in efforts to
raise money for a Hurricane Katrina relief project. (Photo
by Anna Duning)
|
“There
seems to be a lot of heartache in the world,” said vice principal
Tim Guy, who has been especially active in school service projects, “and
George Mason’s efforts to provide some relief for that is a noble
one.”
Carnival Week is part of the greater George Mason
Relief Project and is the group’s first undertaking this year. Last
year, as Carnival Week kicked off and other Masonites began trying
to establish various service organizations such as a Mason chapter
of Habitat for Humanity, students and administrators agreed to form
the George Mason Relief Project, a coordinated organization whose primary
goal is to promote a common mission. With fundraising efforts by Carnival
Week, the Model United Nations, the Student Council Association, the
National Honor Society and other organizations, the GMRP last year
generated around $5,000, which was sent to Habitat for Humanity and
Save the Children for Hurricane Katrina-designated projects.
The main active members of the GMRP, led
by freshman Adeyianka Johnson-Bowman, plan to eventually expand their
agenda with, as is hoped, coordinated efforts from other school organizations.
Their interests also include HIV prevention, freshwater in rural communities
and Darfur recovery. In light of the GMRP’s plans to consolidate projects,
Mr. Guy asked, “Might a school in Darfur need freshwater?” It is possible,
but for now the GMRP will focus on Carnival Week, not to forget that
disaster that happened and is still evident, several hundred miles
south of here.
Tell us
what you think.
E-mail lassogmhs@hotmail.com
|
