D93 students collecting donations for Afghanistan school

The Thunder Ridge High School student council is paying it forward to a school on the other side of the world. The school is in Kabul, Afghanistan and could use some help.

“They live in a situation where their life is very, very scary,” said Kara Kearsley, the student council advisor for Thunder Ridge. “And they live with evil people next door and they live in a situation where it’s just uncertain.”

The students are affected by the war around them. One girl has to be carried to school because the lower half of her body was blown up. One boy has burns covering the side of his face. However, they still make it to school. Now Thunder Ridge students are helping out by collecting school supplies to stuff in 450 backpacks.

“We wanted to give them something that was individual and just let them know that there’s a school thousands of miles away, 7,044 miles away actually, that believes in them and hopes to help give them some education,” Kearsley said. “Because we really know that by education and by supporting their education that’s really their only way out.”

What first started as just a Thunder Ridge project is now expanded into all of Bonneville School District 93.

“Since we’re a new school, we have this nice opportunity for a new high school and we have brand new stuff and since we have so much and they have so little I want to push that out to the district and I just want to go district wide,” said Maggie Rushton, a senior at Thunder Ridge.

Kearsley wants the first student council to leave a legacy of giving back and being selfless leaders. This project was the way to get that legacy started.

“It really is about what can we do to help our school, what can we do to help our community, what can we do to make somebody’s day better and make sure everybody in the school has a safe and happy place,” she said. “So then reaching out beyond that into the world, it’s just another example of how leadership truly is selfless.”

They do not need backpacks. There are donation boxes in every school office in the district. The also ask for monetary donations for things such as shipping costs. They are accepting donations through October 5th.

Here is the list of items needed:

1 – 10 ct. Crayola Fine Line Markers (Classic Colors)

2 – Elmer’s Glue Sticks

1 – 24 ct. Crayola Crayons (Classic Colors)

1 – Pink Pearl Eraser

1 – Handheld plastic pencil sharpener

1 – single row Crayola Washable Water Colors (Classic Colors)

2 – Bic Ballpoint Pens (Blue or Black)

1 – Plastic Pocket Folder (no faces or animals)

1 pair – kids scissors

8 – unsharpened #2 pencils

1 – sticker sheet (no faces or animals)

1 – plastic ruler

1 – composition notebook (no faces or animals)