HOW TO START A NURU CLUB!

Transcription

1 HANDBOOK Your school can make a HUGE impact in ending extreme, by partnering with the innovative non-profit, Nuru International. Check out this video to see the 1st ever Nuru Week in Fairmont, WV Starting a Nuru Club p. 1 Planning a Nuru Week..... p. 2 Daily Activities p. 3 Sample Schedule p. 4 Planning a Bucket Walk..... p. 5 Planing a 5K Run p.7 HOW TO START A NURU CLUB! 1. Believe in the organization. Do your homework! The only way you can convince others to be Nuru is to BE Nuru yourself! 3. Assure the teacher that you are all in. If s/he knows you re dedicated, she will be more likely to devote her time as well. 2. Have a plan. Identify a suitable faculty member one that is approachable and has a reputation for supporting students. Then ask her/him about a time for a quick conversation. Talk about Nuru International for a few minutes and then show the teacher a video from the site. The End/Jake s Story and How Nuru Works are good options. 4. Enlist some friends. Publicize the new club. Your teacher may have to get permission from the administration. Be ready to answer questions such as, Why don t we raise money for a local charity? 5. At monthly meetings, watch Nuru videos, read the blogs together and host discussions on extreme. [1]

2 PLANNING YOUR NURU WEEK 1. Get your administration on your team. Your faculty sponsor can meet with the administration using the same steps that convinced them, showing the video The End/Jake s Story and How Nuru Works 2. Brainstorm a list of creative awareness and fundraisers. 3. Consider planning a school-wide assembly either as part of the week or during the week before to kick off the week. Contact Nuru to see if a staff member is available for an in-person or via internet appearance. 4. Select 5 or more activities from your list that you can reasonably put together. Choose ones that speak to your school community. You may not be able to raise money with each activity. 5. Use your merch. If you plan to sell merchandise, like bracelets or t-shirts, be sure to have club members wear those items to raise awareness. Club members ordered t-shirts, and then began selling them in mid-november. We took orders through the end of Nuru Week. 6. Assign a student leader to each activity. Others can help, but one person should be in charge. 7. Write specific proposals for each activity. 8. Go to the administration with a rough draft of your week. Make sure to get approval for each activity. Work together to choose a calendar week for Nuru Week. We recommend getting it on the calendar at least three months in advance. 9. Don t wait. Start building awareness now. Ask teachers to showcase Nuru videos during class. Use homeroom or A/A time to discuss issues. Start selling your merchandise well in advance. Have students sell during all lunch periods with permission from the administration. COMMUNICATIONS Early on, have a student leader write a letter and drop in all faculty mailboxes. Attach a Nuru card to each. Also write up something in advance for the school newspaper/newsletter. 10. Mange the funds through a school account. While this creates a good bit of paperwork for the sponsor, it also makes everything transparent. If your financial secretary is willing, they can set up a sub account for your club. At the end of the fundraisers, the school s name will be on the check to Nuru International. 11. Do nothing without permission from the administration! ASSIGN STUDENT TEAM LEADERS Nuru Week can only happen when a dedicated team of people work together. Here s what the team at Fairmont Senior HS looked like. 2 students worked together on merchandise and advertising. 1 student led the Bucket Walk 1 student led the 5K These 5 students and about 4 others did most of the work accomplished by the students. They were really great about sharing and pitching in to help others with their events. 1 student designed and ran a website (optional) [2]

3 DAILY ACTIVITIES Announcements Hat Day d afternoon Each morning an nt we had a differe out global announcement ab t prepared. A studen le week so the list for the who announcer that the student y s facts. just read that da Students pay an amount ($1-3) to wear a hat all day, during classes. Ask 1st period teachers to collect money and mark the students who v e paid to wear a hat (donations are also acce ptable) by writing NURU on their hands with a Sh arpie. With teacher permiss ion and a note from the sponsor, club members went around collecting envelopes about 15 minu tes into 1st period. We divided it so that no one would miss more than 15 minutes of class. Clothespins Purchase 300 clothespins and do research on facts. Then whittle down the facts until they could fit on a clothespin. Explain what they are about during the assembly and have students wear them on their clothes throughout the week. They can take them off and clip onto other students during passing periods. Bucket Walk See details on page 4 School Spirit Days Posters The more visible the message the better. Print signs and get permission to put them in halls, stairwells, classrooms, bathrooms! Lunch-Fast r to Students voluntee and fast during lunch h nc donate their lu money to Nuru It s always great to connect school spirit with making a difference, so allocate certain days for wearing school colors, or specific class colors. Sell Merchandise Students designed t-shirts using both the Nuru logo & school branding. Pre-orders were taken and individual shirts!sold during lunch periods. Other creative merch ideas are encouraged! Other Ideas! 5K Run See U Run for Nuru list on page 5 [3] Carwash, Bake Sale, Dance-a-Thon, FlashMob, Party with a purpose. Get creative!

4 SAMPLE SCHEDULE Monday 8:00 am All School Assembly with guest speaker Billy Williams Nuru T-Shirt Day: Students and Teachers wear your Nuru shirts Clothespin Messages: students will pin each other with messages about global throughout the day Tuesday Light Up the World Day Wear neon or bright colors Wednesday Class Color Day: Support your class. Seniors wear blue; Juniors wear white; Sophomores wear red; Freshmen wear black. Thursday Bucket Walk fundraiser during 5 th period. Students will carry buckets on their heads around the campus to raise awareness for the millions of people in the developing world who have to walk miles to get water. In order to participate, students handed in sponsor sheets and at least $15. A final list of excuses will be distributed this morning. (Student Leader) is in charge of this event for his senior project. He will need some volunteers to work the course (around the loop) during 5 th period. Contact him to help! Friday School Pride Day: Wear school colors Hat Day: Donate $1 to Nuru in 1 st period and wear a hat all day Saturday U Run for Nuru 5K Run at Fairmont State. Register with (Student Leader). She will need some volunteers to work the course and help with registration. Contact her to help! [4]

5 Nuru BUCKET WALK Students get to experience what it s like to fetch water as if they were living in extreme. This is modeled after Nuru s Be Hope to Her event. Watch what 1500 students did in this short 3 min highlight video. Choose an event site. Pick a place that has a water source like a river, lake, fountain or hose where participants can fill up their buckets. (Ideally, you ll want to dump the water back there at the end of the event.) Map a route. Plan how long it will take to walk to and from the water source during one period (or after school). 45 minutes is an average. Walking around the perimeter of your campus is an option, but consider more heavily visible area to draw more attention! Remember head padding. Kenyan women carry their water bucket on their heads. A thin towel, sarong, kanga or rolled up t-shirt will do the trick. Ask each participant to bring his/her own, and have a few on hand to distribute. Raise funds! Drum up support. Find friends to help with planning and a club, organization or class that will participate in the event. In order to participate, a student had to bring in a minimum donation of $15. Get buckets! Collect buckets that each participant can use to carry to the water source, collect water, and carry it back as if they were returning home to their families. Contact local businesses and asked them to donate buckets. Create a sign to post around the building that gives them a sponsorship credit. [5]

6 BUCKET WALK TIPS From Faculty Sponsor at Fairmont Senior High School 1. We did a feasibility study after school. I brought in a 5 gallon bucket and club members and I walked to a stream near the school. We filled the bucket and then carried it back to school. We determined that the 40 pounds in the bucket would be far too heavy for most students. Likewise, the wooded path down to the stream was too dangerous and narrow. 2. We decided to walk around the perimeter of our campus instead, a 2/3 mile loop. 3. We decided to omit water. There was no convenient place to fill up buckets besides a tap. We felt that wasting so much water would be irresponsible. Perhaps consider filling the buckets only partially full of water or finding a place to recycle the water afterwards. 4. I arranged for the event to take place during my planning period so I could supervise the event. I received permission to excuse all participating students from class during that period. I estimated the total time for the event would be minutes. 5. The student in charge contacted local businesses and asked them to donate buckets. He created a sign to post around the building and a sponsorship form. 6. I photocopied the forms and placed them in the main office. I wrote announcements explaining the purpose of the event (to raise money and awareness for those kids who are not in school because they are fetching water for their families). I discussed the event in my classes and went into other classes during my planning period to create interest. 7. I planned the course and arranged for teachers also on planning period to stand at the corners to keep walkers on track. 8. Despite our efforts, we had little interest until after our Nuru Week assembly. 9. I contacted local media who came and interviewed students for the local news and the newspaper. [6]

7 Planning a 5K is huge undertaking, but could be an amazing experience for a student leader. Consider reaching out to a track athlete or someone who has a passion for running. Challenge them to make this their Senior Project. Having participants raise support from friends and family is an excellent way to both spread awareness and raise funds to help Nuru s programs. There is a lot of great information online about the detailed steps of planning a 5K. Here is a link to a document prepared by Florida State University: 5K_Packet.pdf THINGS TO CONSIDER Dates and Times Routes Route Marking Traffic Concerns Number of participants Security Registration Water stops Food Restroom facilities T-Shirts Special permit Costs Cancellations First Responders Additional things to consider To download high-res Nuru logos, visit: Have a great Nuru Week experience? We d love to hear about it: info@nuruinternational.org [7]