Valley Schools Pitch In : Students’ Initiative Boosts Famine Aid

Oliver Benjamin’s trip to Ethiopia may have drawn the most attention among efforts by Los Angeles students to aid starving people in that country. But while the 17-year-old senior from North Hollywood High School was touring relief maps, thousands of other San Fernando Valley students also were pitching in.

From Tujunga to Woodland Hills, students held auctions, dances, sold foreign foods and movie stars’ clothing, and played a version of “The Dating Game,” all to raise money for medical supplies for Ethiopian famine victims.

The fund raising is part of the “L.A. Students Make a Miracle” drive, two weeks of events, which ended Friday, aimed at raising $250,000 throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Thousands of dollars have been raised from the Valley’s approximately 200 public schools, although accurate totals aren’t yet available. The money will be forwarded to school district offices and from there to Interaction, an umbrella relief agency for Ethiopian famine victims, school officials said.

Clothes of the Famous

At Van Nuys High School Friday, students sold pieces of clothing said to be worn by famous alumni during their high school days, including actor Robert Redford, former Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale and former Rams quarterback Bob Waterfield. Students also set up booths to sell foreign foods.

Robert Livingston, a social studies teacher and student council adviser, said the school would probably meet its goal of raising $2,500 to help starving Ethiopians. Other recent activities included a basketball game between seniors and juniors, a meager lunch of rice and water paid for by $1 donations, and a version of “The Dating Game” television show played between Van Nuys and Chatsworth high school students, Livingston said.

“The winners got dates with each other and coupons to local restaurants,” he said.

Van Nuys High School also will be donating to the relief effort any profits from the school production of the Broadway musical “Annie,” which will e staged over several days next week.

Although the methods of raising funds ranged widely, the goal, according to Livingston and other Valley school officials, remained the same: To help stop the dying and instill in students a sense of caring for the plight of others.

“It’s a kind of gesture of the heart,” Livingston said. “We left student with this question: ‘What can you do to make it a little better world?’ We’re not in the cynicism business in education.”

Nick Bernal, student council adviser at North Hollywood High School, said students had a variety of motives for raising funds.

“I think maybe the kids are coming out of their apathy,” he said. “People are becoming aware of things in the world again. But it seems like it’s the ‘in’ thing to be concerned about.”

At Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, students organized movie showings, dances and car washes during he past two weeks, according to student council adviser Louis Ramirez.

Birmingham challenged other city high schools to surpass it in fund raising at a citywide meeting of student body presidents and student council advisers two weeks ago. The idea was to inspire other students to give by introducing some competition, said Birmingham’s student body President Eric Blum.

The strategy apparently worked.

“We were told we were behind Taft High in fund raising,” Blum said in reference to the school’s sports rival in neighboring Woodland Hills. “We weren’t the next day.”

Birmingham probably will raise about $7,000 and Taft about $3,000, school officials estimated.

This week, Birmingham students auctioned the services of students to run errands throughout the school day. The first day, boys “rented” girls to carry their books and get lunch. Friday it was the girls’ turn.

Ramirez said the top rental paid was $43.

Two students wrote a song titled, “We Care,” to the tune of “We Are the World,” the song performed by contemporary music stars that has raised millions of dollars for African relief, Ramirez said.

The fund raising didn’t stop with the Valley’s 17 public high schools.

Students at Dearborn Street Elementary School in Northridge raised almost $1,200, Principal Hal Kuhn said. He said the school’s students decided to rely only on voluntary donations.

“It’s altruism,” he said. “I’m really pleased that they didn’t think people should be getting prizes for something we should be doing.”