Costa Mesa students raise $18,000 to help build a middle school in Uganda

Embarking on bake sales, dog walks and lemonade stands, students at Mariners Christian School have raised more than $18,000 to help build a middle school in Gulu, Uganda.

“We know we’re very fortunate to have our school, and we can do something to help out other kids who don’t have that,” said Nick Thayer, a fifth-grader at Mariners, in Costa Mesa. “They need to learn because they need to live.”

Mariners, which has about 660 students in its elementary and middle school classes, took on the task of helping Gulu’s students after Mariners middle school Principal Heather Harrison met Dave Galaway and his wife, Frankie, through church last summer.

Galaway is the U.S. director of Uganda-based Christ the Center Ministries, which has already built an elementary school and established a feeding program in Gulu, a city in the northern region of the African country.

The Galaways, who travel to Gulu multiple times a year, mentioned that the ministry was working to add a middle school there. It sparked an interest in Harrison.

“After hearing that they needed a middle school, I thought it would be a great opportunity for our middle school to help,” Harrison said. “Now they’re doing something that’s going to change the lives of students who are their same age all the way across the world.”

Mariners students started their fundraising efforts with a jar in each middle school homeroom to collect change.

From there, Harrison said, the urge to give to Gulu was contagious.

The Mariners middle and elementary schools began holding bake sales and movie nights to help the cause.

Some students even took matters into their own hands outside the school.

Nick and his classmates Ray Herold and Luke Kelly seized the opportunity to do more fundraising while at a play date.

“We were sitting there and we thought, ‘Why don’t we raise money for Gulu?’” Luke said. “Then we started asking [neighbors] if we could walk dogs.”

Ray said he and his friends made $10 that afternoon — all for Gulu.

“I also got a job taking out the trash,” Ray said. “It’s important what we’re doing. We’re lucky to have all this stuff, so we should share what we can.”

Throughout the school year, Mariners has received videos of students in Gulu singing in their school and sitting down for meals through the feeding program. In the videos, the students express thanks to Mariners for raising funds toward their middle school, Harrison said.

The money that Mariners has raised thus far for Christ the Center Ministries is enough to build one middle school classroom in Gulu and contribute to the feeding program.

“The impact Mariners will have on students who are 13,000 miles away is going to be everlasting,” Galaway said.

Harrison said Mariners’ next goal is to raise $10,000 to build a second middle school classroom for Gulu.

Upcoming fundraisers include campus bake sales Donuts with Dad on Wednesday and Muffins with Mom on April 13.