A group of seven Chatsworth third-graders raised $250 for an African school in just a few hours.

 The group, The Roaring Readers, is a mother-daughter book club which began last Fall.  They recently read Three Cups of Tea, a book by Greg Mortensen describing his efforts at building schools in Pakistan. 

The girls were so inspired by the book that they asked if they could find some way to do charitable work.  After much discussion about what kind of charity and how to raise funds, the girls decided (via vote) on donating to girls’ education in Benin, Africa (through worlded.org).  Abby Bennitt explained, “ We were reading the Three Cups of Tea book and also learning about Africa in school, so we put the two ideas together and came up with this idea.”

            Last week the tennis club, Sportime at Harbor Island, offered to sponsor the event, and the girls set up a collection station in the lobby.  With posters asking for spare change, enthusiastic descriptions of their charity, and lots of spunk, the Roaring Readers were able to turn spare change into a substantial donation for their cause.

Eric Fromm, manager of Sportime, described it as “the highlight of my day” and even contributed the quarters from one of the vending machines. 

 The Roaring Readers had so much fun that they want to make fundraising an annual event.  Book club member Sophia Glinski summarized the experience, “It is super-fun to make a difference in other people’s lives!” 

–Juliet Glinski