Like the rest of the country two local students were moved by the tragic bombings at the Boston Marathon. But McAuliffe Middle School sixth graders Jessica Ridgeway and Meritte Shehata were especially touched by a photo of young Richard Martin, a boy who eventually died of his injuries from the bombing.
A picture of Martin was aired during news reports, which showed the young boy holding a sign that urged people to stop hurting each other and live for peace. As stories of Martin and other victims crowded all news reports, Jessica and Meritte decided to take action to try and offer some help for the victims.
The two students decided to raise money to donate to the onefundboston.org donation website that was collecting money to help victims of the bombing. The two students simply wanted to offer some assistance to what seemed so senseless.
“We were like ‘who would do such a thing’” Jessica said, remembering how they felt when the bombing took place.
The two 12-year-old girls had only met at the start of the year when they began middle school. Jessica had come from Rossmoor Elementary and Meritte had come from Los Alamitos Elementary. But the two had become fast friends when they had an art class together.
After consulting with school officials about what they would be allowed to do on campus, they devised a two-fold plan to try and raise what they thought would be a few hundred dollars. They began with a three-day change drive, where they carried jars around campus and simply asked their fellow students if they would like to donate some loose change. They dubbed it “Bucks for Boston.”
They tallied up their total after just 10 minutes of collection and found they had already surpassed $100. But the big boost came on the third day, when they had planned a bake sale.
“They especially liked the bake sale,” Meritte said of her fellow students.
Not only did the students enjoy purchasing the baked goods for the cause, the two found that when word got out, they received a large supply of baked goods from other families who wanted to help them raise money. The sale was dubbed “Bake for Boston.”
In the end the two events raised more than $1,500. Their efforts were reported on television on Channel 9 by news reporter Juan Fernandez. And they are hopeful that others will be motivated to continue to help the victims.
