During the current economic crisis, Canada’s education system is facing serious challenges. With large government budget deficits mounting, cutbacks to important social services are on the way. Our schools are no exception. This is coming at a time when schools have already seen their budgets trimmed during the last decade and a half. Boards will have to make some very difficult choices, and most experts agree that Canada’s reputation as having the best education system in the world will be under threat.
Everyone knows that education costs money, but what if there was a way that students could learn while actually bringing money INTO the system and enhancing their own education? Now, there is.
CooKids, which stands for Contributing, Organizing and Outstanding Kids, is a program that allows students throughout Canada to raise funds for their own schools while learning important organizational, administrative and communication skills.
In 2004, I had the idea of selling cookies at my school in Aurora, Ontario to raise funds for the citizens of Haiti, who were devastated by a recent hurricane. At first, I was only given a few boxes, but after a lot of planning, marketing and hard work, my friends and I ended up selling over 1,000 of them and raised more than $6,000 for the relief efforts.
It was the start of something big, because if a small group of kids at one school can do this much, imagine what tens of thousands of students across Canada can do. I recently set out to create the basis of a cookie sales program that school boards can use throughout Canada.
Most importantly, I’ve also applied for an Aviva funding grant for the program, which will help get CooKids off the ground and into thousands of schools across the country. The thing is that to be selected, people have to go to the Aviva website and vote for it.
So please click here and cast your vote today! It will make a huge difference. I really appreciate your support. Thanks.
Warm Regards,
Bilaal Rajan
“Together We Can Make A Difference”