MONTREAL — A nationwide online fundraising competiton for students to help the children of Darfur was recently launched at Bialik High School Called the Darfur Challenge, the campaign is meant not only to raise funds, but also to raise awareness among students about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the region of Sudan where millions have been slaughtered and displaced by civil strife over the last four years, and to bolster advocacy initiatives, said Bialik student Adam Shapiro, one of the organizers of the competition.
The schools that raise the most money will win valuable prizes.
“We based it on a similar campaign in the U.S. called Dollars for Darfur,” which raised some $400,000, Shapiro said in a telephone interview for which he was joined by two other Bialik student organizers, Lauren Pinkus and Shawn Greenstone.
Shapiro, 15, earlier won praise for founding the Human Promise: Young Voices for Darfur, a youth-led movement of Quebec high school students whose goal is to educate their peers about the genocide in the Darfur region.
Although the competition is aimed primarily at elementary and high school students, almost any other type of youth group – from sports teams to groups of friends to siblings – can also enter.
“Any fundraising idea is good,” Pinkus said, adding that even though the competition is open to virtually anybody, it’s hoped that Jewish schools will lead the way because humanitarian issues are “Jewish issues.”
“We are building on the number of schools,” she said. “It’s all about kids looking out for other kids.”
What is unique about the competition, Shapiro said, is that it is being run entirely through “viral marketing,” that is, tools such as Facebook, MySpace, e-mail and online registering will be utilized to maximize recruitment as well as the competition’s potential.
Hundreds of schools have been sent letters inviting them to participate. At writing, the Darfur Challenge website, www.darfurchallenge.org, listed participating schools in Montreal, in Ontario and in British Columbia. The website is being used for all registration as well as for access to tools and resources including photos, logos, T-shirts and fundraising advice.
The main link on the site is the “Campaign Resources” menu, which downloads a “kit” that includes fundraising ideas and an event-planning guide, and gives advice on being an effective leader and how to attract media attention.
The Darfur Challenge officially ends May 21, but funds can be turned in until May 30.
The initiative, Shapiro said, is being co-sponsored by the advocacy coalition Save Darfur Canada, with proceeds earmarked for War Child Canada, which provides humanitarian aid to child victims of war, and for Save Darfur Canada’s advocacy work.
Among those attending the official launch at Bialik were Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, a prominent figure in local Darfur advocacy; Father John Walsh of St. Jean Brébeuf Parish; and Holocaust survivor Leslie Vertes, who told students that young people are duty-bound to learn from the Holocaust in regard to the Darfur crisis.
