16 JUNE 2020 By Evan Gower Devan Amin and Misha Ghafouri are Phoenix Country Day School freshmen whose mission to fight for underprivileged kids has taken them to extraordinary places and helped them develop new mindsets. For an end-of-the-year project in 7th grade, both Devan and Misha created websites centered on helping children. Devan created Impaktkidz, a website aimed “to provide a platform for kids to have a unified voice on issues and topics that are important to our society and world using social media and technology.” Misha developed Kidz Educate Kidz, a website which she describes as “an online resource for students to publish their presentations, papers, research and any other educational work they have created.” Devan and Misha were involved in speech and debate, where they discussed important issues and where they first raised concerns about kids in need. With their travels to impoverished countries such as India, Iran, Mexico and Kenya, they decided that it was their mission to fight for those less fortunate. During summer 2019, they created Kids Inspire Difference (KID). KID is a nonprofit organization designed to empower kids to help those less fortunate than themselves. The organization plans to use social media campaigns to “impact the lives of children within the U.S. and abroad who face abuse, neglect, illness, poverty, illiteracy, war and other social and emotional disadvantages,” according to their website. Currently, KID is working on its first campaign: A Million Reasons – an effort to educate youth about the impact of child abuse and neglect. KID collaborates with Childhelp, one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the world, and they are currently helping rollout the Million Reasons campaign. “I want to become more educated about the causes that affect our society and community. Building KID has made me more aware of the need for young leaders like ourselves to understand the issues that young children face across the world,” Devan said. “I hope to continue learning about the many issues in my community and how I can use my platform to become an ally to those in need and advocate for the voiceless,” Misha said. For more: kidsinspiredifference.org PCDS freshmen start campaign to help kids around the world Devan Amin Misha Ghafouri By Mallory Gleich Every spring, Arcadia High School’s PTO holds a fundraising gala. This year, however, PTO co-president Tricia Longnecker decided to try something different – an Un-Gala. “In the spring, there’s always so much going on with families and graduates and everything else,” Longnecker said. “In the beginning of this year’s school year, I decided ‘why don’t we try something online?’” Longnecker explained that because families tend to be busy during the springtime, it was hard for people to make it to the event. She said that the online fundraiser worked to their advantage, seeing as everyone has been stuck inside on their laptops for the past couple of months. “I was more nervous because of the economy and the unknowns. We didn’t know if people would actually bet on items or not,” Longnecker said. The issue came down to having to reschedule an event at the country club – and the committee was worried about asking for funds during the pandemic. “We were scared, but I think people felt joy in doing something. People loved it and we had a great turnout,” Longnecker said. The fundraiser happened over two days at the end of April. Local businesses and sponsors offered date packages, gift certificates, lessons, jewelry, photography sessions and more. Once the donated items were available, people could go online, bid and re-bid for each item. Gift baskets were put together by the PTO and folks could pick up the baskets through safe social distancing protocols. One hundred percent of the funds made goes to the teachers, staff, security and school for general projects, such as new benches, trashcans and cots and supplies for the nurses’ office. One of the biggest ticket items was the reserved parking spots. Altogether, the fundraiser brought in over $61,000, with more than 170 people bidding. “We were shocked. We are so grateful, and it just showed what a tight Arcadia community we have and the support we have for our school and our teachers is just absolutely amazing,” Longnecker said. “Our teachers are overwhelmed. It’s just wonderful.” AHS PTO ‘Un-Gala’ raises $61K First virtual fundraiser a huge success Mark A. Wyse, M.D. Kate Montgomery, FNP Allan Goldman, D.O. David Francyk, D.O. T.E. McCauley, M.D. Alisha Archibeck, D.O. 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