Make a Difference Day

Suggestion - How to organize it

1. Divide your students into teams and let them brainstorm the ideas „How

can we help ...“(what is a need or problem of the community...)

2. Let them discuss and choose one idea and prepare presentation with

following points:

What can we do

For whom

What do we need for it

How much time do we need to organize it

How much money do we need, where we can get money ….

3. After presenting and discussion, choose one activity or more and begin

to organize J

Example: assistance to the elderly or disabled with chores, coordinate a

recycling activity, clean up the surroundings of the school or public park,

collect food for homeless….

What we did in my school Hotel Academy, Bratislava

1. My students organize charity run every year and invite all schools to join. This

year we had almost 600 runners and donated Women in Action organization in

Sierra Leone. We sent them 1707€ for the education of children.

2. We visited asylum for children and mothers and gave them toys and food and

spend the whole day with them with animation activities.

Ideas from Charlotte Straby Tranberg, Oerestad Gymnasium,

Kopenhagen

It originated from a tradition all Danish upper secondary schools have. One

day a year, first Wednesday in November, we have a day called ”Operations

Dagsværk, ”work for a day”

It’s an organisation which donates money for education to various places in

the world. A new area or project each year. This year the money went to

Somalia. The idea is that every student who participate work for one day and

donates the money earned to this organisation. The minimum amount is 45

euroes, 300,- Dkr. It started in the 1980’s. All classes are cancelled in order

for you to work, but it is normally voluntary if you want to participate.

Since we didn’t want to force someone to support something they perhaps

don’t agree with, we came up with the idea of ”make a difference day”.

So we have various workshops that day, some are organised by students,

some by teachers, some are global, other local and other again internal at the

school.

We organize it this way:

In September we get proposals for workshops, agreements with partners and

organizations from outside the school need to be made.

In October students sign up for a workshop

First Wednesday in November we have the day.

Examples of workshops:

Red cross (working for red cross – get to know what kind of

organization it is and how you can help them in voluntary work)

A refugee camp nearby (students went to the camp to talk about Danish

culture and traditions)

The Danish Society for Nature Conservation (ask what an organization

like this wants from young people)

First help course

Teaching math to primary school children

Organizing a football match for kids who can’t afford to play in a club

Workshop for dialogue between religions

We had ”bake a cake and donate the money you collect when you offer

the cake for ”FREE”

Workshop – “make soup and bring it for free to homeless people

Little Big help – workshop – that by doing small things you can make a

big difference

Amnesty – workshop

Generations meet – we go to an old people’s home. Our students teach

the elders how to use a smart phone or Ipad, the elders teach our

students to knit, play cards, telling stories about how it was to be young

years ago.

Political communication, work as a voluntary in Ghana, integration at

Nørrebro (part of Cph), meet the human library, dialogue about

discrimination and many more.

I guess only your fantasy and connections can limit the kind of workshop you

make.

The main idea is to open the eyes of our students, so that they become aware

of the world and how much the world needs everyone to make a difference

and the give input to what kind of difference I can contribute with.

It is also an opportunity to let students organize workshops, to be in touch

with partners outside school, both in a local and global perspective.