Big Blue Marble Academy students in Atlanta raise funds for Africa

Students at Big Blue Marble Academy around Atlanta recently completed a change drive to provide pre- and postnatal care for 70 mothers and their babies at the Rotifunk Hospital in Sierra Leone, Africa, as part of its "Change for a Change" project.

The children at BBMA, including the Powder Springs, Marietta and Kids Zone Marietta locations, raised over $7,000 that directly benefits the new families. This initiative is part of BBMA's Passport to Community program that aims to teach young learners character development through mindfulness and encourage them to become good citizens through service learning activities, known as Heart Projects.

Throughout March and April, the students collected change to benefit Mission of Hope's Madonna project at the hospital while learning that mothers need healthy food, clean water and doctors to have healthy babies. By making posters to inform the community of the need, asking for change to help these families and brainstorming locations to display their posters, the students actively did their part to generate awareness and attract donations.

Change was collected through weekly in-classroom competitions and other fun events. Afterwards, the students were responsible for counting and rolling it into coin containers, as well as creating cards for the new mothers, giving them tangible opportunities to practice skills they learn in their classrooms. The young learners then quantify their efforts through how many mothers their change is able to support so they can better understand their impact.

Collectively, students across all of BBMA's locations raised $17,548.13 – enough to help 175 new mothers.

For more information, visit bbmacademy.com.

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