Alliance of Students Against Poverty

Little People Raise Big Money

When Mrs. Flynn’s third grade class from Wickliffe Elementary School in Upper Arlington, Ohio heard about ASAP’s kick-off tour to India, Bangladesh, South Aftrica, Kenya and Mali, the students asked Jon Mangum to be their pen pal while he and Patrick Crompton, Co-founder of ASAP, traveled to research some of the most effective microfinance programs in the world at reaching the poorest.

Jon visited the class several weeks before the trip to talk to the students about the countries he and Patrick would be visiting and to teach the students about microfinance. Jon was amazed by the ability of young students to grasp concepts like collateral and to understand the factors that trap people in extreme poverty.

Throughout the trip, Jon wrote the class emails explaining about the people they met and what these programs do to help some of the poorest people in the world. The class emailed back great questions, and through their exchanges, excitement increased.

Mrs. Flynn’s class decided to have a bake sale to raise money to support the people they were learning about. Patrick and Jon prepared a slideshow presentation and information for the students to use as they sold their baked goods. The class set a goal, advertised, inspired their families to bake goods and had an incredible bake sale. Mrs Flynn wrote,

“My classroom of children was so excited and pleased to be doing something for families who are so poor. After the powerful ASAP presentation they poured themselves into our fundraiser, which was a bake sale."

“They enlisted their aunts and grandmas to bake goods; they made posters to advertise and then, they worked hard at the bake sale. Our goals was $300, which is a lot for an elementary school bake sale, since we only charged $.25 for each item. We made $337.61!”

ASAP would like to thank Mrs. Flynn’s class and all of the students at Wickliffe for their great ideas, their hard work and their dedication to make a difference.