When Liz Scott, the owner of The Goddard School preschool of Ponte Vedra Beach, heard about RIPPLE Africa, she instantly thought it was an outstanding nonprofit. RIPPLE Africa helps people in Malawi, Africa with environmental, educational and healthcare initiatives.
Scott decided that The Goddard School would show its support for the charity by “twinning” with The Ripple Mwaya Preschool in Malawi to not only help Malawian children succeed in education and life, but to teach children in Ponte Vedra Beach the importance of empathy.
“My director of admissions, Marie Ann Howard, became aware of it and it’s just a really wonderful preschool program in Africa and they’re always looking for funding and support,” Scott said.
By “twinning” with one of the eight preschools in Malawi, Goddard teachers and students plan multiple fundraisers throughout the year that directly benefit their specific school.
Last fall, students and teachers took part in “project-based learning exercises,” where each classroom brainstormed a fundraising project to put on to benefit their sister school.
“It’s a little competition between the teachers and the children,” Scott said. “One classroom put together a school calendar. Another did photos with Santa, where one of the children’s grandfathers actually came here dressed as Santa. They raised almost $900 with that one event alone.”
From silent auctions to bake sales to even face painting, The Goddard School did it all.
“We also had a fall festival and one of the teachers is an artist, so people at the festival paid only $3 to get their faces painted,” Scott said. “The teacher donated all of those funds directly.”
For community residents who are well over the preschool age, but want to participate with the school, Scott said donations can be made through The Goddard School or through RIPPLE Africa’s official website, where for $80, one can “adopt a child” and pay for a child’s entire school year.
“They’ll receive not just an education, but a hot meal every school day for just an $80 donation,” Scott said.
So far, The Goddard School is just over the halfway mark of its $10,000 goal. Scott said they are receiving a lot of “fan mail” from their friends in Malawi, so they can tell they are making a difference.
“The organizers have sent us ‘thank you’ letters for the holidays, emails and commented on our social media,” Scott said. The children in Malawi “send us thank-you-notes and we had our children send notes back, like pen pals.”
The Goddard School is not only establishing a foundation for education abroad, but also a foundation for communication, relationship-building and understanding, both in Malawi and at home.
“We talked to the children at our school about the children in Africa and why we’re doing this,” Scott said, “explaining to them, at their level, how fortunate we are to have the things we have. And that just goes towards developing empathy and sensitivity in children, which is so important for social and emotional growth. It really is a wonderful program all around.”
For more information on The Goddard School, visit
www.goddardschool.com/jacksonville/ponte-vedra-beach-executive-way-fl.
For more information on RIPPLE Africa, visit www.rippleafrica.org.
Photos provided by The Goddard School
