Students collect money to 'Delay the Day'
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- Published on Thursday, May 4, 2017
By Kate Jackman-Atkinson
The Neepawa Banner
Just how much will NACI students pay to delay the start of their school day? Last month, HOPE, NACI’s social justice group, found that the answer was $1,362.
On April 26, the HOPE students held their popular Delay the Day fundraiser. Claire Brister, a grade 10 student and HOPE member, explained that each classroom, from Grade 6 to Grade 12, gets a jar. The students bring in coins to fill up the jars and on Delay the Day, every student’s first class was delayed by the time it took their teacher to roll the collected coins. While the campaign ran for about a week, most of the money came in the day of the event.
The breakdown proved which classes were least popular. Taylor Johnson, another Grade 10 student and HOPE member, was in the class that raised the most money. Students in her English class brought in a total of $127. More than once, she had to head back to get more coin wrappers.
The maximum amount of time the day could be delayed was the entire first period, which lasts one hour. Because of the amount of money brought in, most students had all, or almost all, of the first period as free time. They used this time to catch up on homework, read, draw or play games with their friends.
While the fundraiser has been done before, this was the first year that the school’s Middle Years students were also involved. It proved to be a success, “They brought a lot,” said Brister. The goal was to raise $800 and the students far exceeded that amount.
The money raised at Delay the Day was earmarked for Haiti, the country the students had pledged to support. In total, the school sent $2,000 to help the country hit by Hurricane Matthew last October. HOPE was able to get their donation matched by Save the Children, helping the money stretch further than it would have otherwise.
This event was the group’s last major fundraiser of the year, although six middle years students will be attending the We Schools youth summit on May 5. Michelle Young, one of the teacher advisors, explained that those attending will gain leadership skills and hopefully, come back with new ideas for the group to implement next year.
