It all started with sophomore Meredith Fuchs. “(She) discovered the organization and did the initial research.  She presented the proposal to me and we decided to present it to the club,” Global and Community Leadership Club advisor Mr. Mike Kelley said.

Kelley is referring to the BeadforLife fundraiser held the week prior to Thanksgiving break which raised over $2,000 by selling hand rolled paper beads to support a program that educates and trains impoverished Ugandan women to become self-supporting.

“Our primary goal is to educate on world issues and to offer opportunities for students to become active in such issues,” Kelley said about why the club got involved with this particular project.

“I was utterly shocked to discover that the majority of the population lived on less than a dollar a day. But by hand rolling these beautiful pieces of jewelry out of recycled paper, Ugandan women are able to bring their whole family out of poverty.  So I basically spent all the money in my wallet buying bracelets and have worn them everyday since,” Fuchs said.

“BeadforLife is a program that raises money for Ugandan women through the sale of beads that the women make. The money goes to help these women and to pay for the education of their daughters,” Kelley said.

The club worked hard to set up the successful fundraiser. “We ordered the beads and set up the various tasks related to selling them.  We prepared notices for the school to sent out via email and posters to spread awareness for the sell.  Meredith wrote the announcement that was read in homerooms.  During the week we sold the beads, we had students conducting the sale in the lobby before school, during break, and during middle school lunch,” Kelley said.