Amara Khaleeli Hasan, a 3rd grader at La Jolla Elementary School, was reading a news app one morning and read about the devastating flooding occurring in Pakistan. Thirty million people have been affected by the flooding as it covers of Pakistan. Over 1,700 people lost their lives (including over 550 children) according to the disaster management agency.
Amara learned that people are in need of food, clean drinking water, and shelter. Amara wanted to do something to help, so she sprang into action. To raise money and awareness, she created a post on a fundraising site and did a read-a-thon fundraiser.
“The theme is climate change because that is what has made the floods in Pakistan so bad. I promised to read 50 pages a day for a month about climate change and the environment. I want to learn more on this topic to stop climate change,” according to her fundraising page.
On a field trip with her class to the public library she asked the librarian for book recommendations on her selected theme. Ms. Katia (Riford Public Library) sent a list of book titles. Amara passed her goal of raising $250 and has raised $2,341. The La Jolla light published an article about her read-a-thon and the children’s librarian put up a poster in the Riford Public Library, which helped increase donations. Amara has also shared the reading list with several friends who have been inspired to learn more about climate change. Amara would love it if more friends joined her in raising money for flood victims by starting their own read-a-thons. Amara says this is a great way for kids to see they can make a difference.