I have made a start on the second year of IB and although it will be much busier and harder than the first one, I do not intend on stopping to care about CAS.
Together with Polina Orlova and Polina Semochkina, we have organized a charity project for which we encourage students and teachers to donate money to purchase bread for homeless people or bring in any warm clothing that we could also give to those in need.
The idea to organize such activity was born from everyday observation of homeless in the streets of Moscow. I have researched different organizations who specialized their work on helping the homeless and found “Ruka Pomoschi” (Helping Hand). This non-profit organization works in different fields: supports shelter homes that gives sleeping places to homeless, collects food and clothing for both adult and child homeless, organizes feeding time every Monday and Friday at 19:30 near Kurskiy train station - anything that would relief the plight that some of Moscow citizens find themselves in. The aim of our school is to assist this organization in it’s good doings.
There were several things that needed to be done in order to start the project: a large poster to identify the place of collection, several smaller posters to hang around school, a large box for collecting clothing, two jars for collecting money and letters for tutors. My personal task was to make a large poster and find a box. In addition, Polina S and I wrote a letter addressed to all students as an encouragement.
We have been running this activity for a whole week and it has already proven to be a success. I intend on continuing it at least until half term, maybe for a whole first term. After this we will give all the funds raised and clothing collected to “Puka Pomoschi” and will produce a presentation to demonstrate to students the results of out work and their contribution.
I believe that this project is a truly valuable one as it aims to support people who need it the most. Moreover it enables me to target the following CAS outcomes:
- planning and initiating activities
- working collaboratively with others
- showing perseverance and commitment in my activities
- engaging with issues of global importance
- considering ethical implications of my actions
“Persons who have been homeless carry within them a certain philosophy of life which makes them apprehensive about ownership.” - Jerzy Kosinski
