Alcott students work to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation

Inspired by the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” this year’s third and fourth grade Quest students at Redmond’s Louisa May Alcott Elementary School are determined to raise $10,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The Make-A-Wish mission is to “grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions, to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.”

Quest is a Lake Washington School District program for highly capable and highly motivated students. Students are identified through standardized testing such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT).

But these bright students still need to be taught “to be aware outside of their home or school — aware of how to impact the community. Our biggest purpose is to make them aware of things that are bigger than themselves,” said Shannon Greer who co-teaches this split-level class with Yii-Ann Chen.

A few years ago, they asked the kids to do five or six hours of community service and found that some were trying to fulfill this requirement by “reading to Grandma or taking out the trash,” Greer explained. “Those are things you already should be doing,” she told them.

“I saw a documentary about a girl with cancer who raised money (for research) with a lemonade stand. We said, ‘Let’s get the kids to do something at the Ronald McDonald House or Children’s Hospital,’ but they’re too young.”

She and Chen contacted Make-A-Wish and studied how non-profit fundraising worked and how they could do it legally. Fundraising projects can’t be conducted during curriculum time and adults must handle the money.

But the students have been selling popcorn — with great success — during school lunch hours a couple times each month. They wrote letters to the Alcott PTSA, asking for their support in managing this program.

The movie theaters at Bella Bottega have donated giant bags of popcorn, which students and parents divide into smaller portions and offer for 75 cents a bag or two for one dollar.

The whole student body looks forward to the popcorn sales and “I’ve never seen kids so excited about cleaning up, picking popcorn off the ground,” Chen commented, laughing.

In addition to the popcorn sales, Chen’s and Greer’s students are doing other small group projects for Make-A-Wish. They had to write proposals and fax the information to the foundation. When their idea is approved, they get a banner to use at their fundraising event.

A couple of kids sold donated baked goods at the school’s Harvest Festival. Another group plans to sell treats at a Microsoft building. And another group plans to take photos throughout the school year and make a memory book that they can sell.

Their fundraising efforts must be concluded before WASL testing in the spring. If they raise $5,000, they can grant a wish for one sick child. If they make it to their goal of $10,000, they can grant the wishes of two children.