CHILDREN CHIP IN FOR RAIN FOREST.Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer Oak Park schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school are fighting to protect endangered en·dan·ger tr.v. en·dan·gered, en·dan·ger·ing, en·dan·gers 1. To expose to harm or danger; imperil. 2. To threaten with extinction. rain forests, using nickels
Nickels is a gambling coin game played with any desired denomination of coins. and dimes as their weapons. Four schools in the Oak Park Unified School District Oak Park Unified School District (OPUSD) is a K-12 school district in southeast Ventura County, California, USA. It consists of six public schools in the community of Oak Park. have raised a total of $2,135, which will be used by the Nature Conservancy Nature Conservancy, nonprofit organization established in 1951 to preserve or aid in the preservation of natural environments. It protects wilderness areas in the United States and Canada and is affiliated with similar groups in Latin America and the Caribbean. , an international environmental group, to buy 61 acres of threatened rain forest in Belize. The district's contribution ranks as one of the top four in the country, said Cliff Ross, executive director of the Earth's Birthday Project, a liaison between schools and the Nature Conservancy. ``These kids really have a significant impact,'' said Ross, who noted that more than 3,000 schools participate in the fund-raiser nationwide. The children's contribution is part of an overall effort to buy and protect 11,000 acres in Belize. ``We work with local partner conservation organizations,'' said Alisha Razani, project assistant for the Nature Conservancy's Adopt An Acre Program. ``We give (the local organizations) the land to run after we fund-raise fund·raise or fund-raise also fund raise intr.v. fund·raised, fund·rais·ing, fund·rais·es To engage in fundraising. Verb 1. for it.'' The project has raised about $330,000 of its $400,000 goal, Ross said. Much of the Oak Park money was raised by children bringing spare change to school. The 544 students at Oak Hills Elementary, for example, donated $700 in change to the rain forest effort, said Tony Knight, Oak Hills principal and the chairman of the district's Environmental Action Committee. Students at Brookside Elementary raised $175 by selling glow sticks for Halloween and `candygrams' for Valentine's Day Valentine's Day: see Saint Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day Lovers' holiday celebrated on February 14, the feast day of St. Valentine, one of two 3rd-century Roman martyrs of the same name. St. . Medea Creek Middle contributed $700 and Red Oak Elementary raised $561. The participating schools also use the drive as a teaching tool, Knight said. ``It's a really good way of educating them about the issue of rain forest depletion,'' he said. As the children collect the money, teachers show students maps of Central America Central America, narrow, southernmost region (c.202,200 sq mi/523,698 sq km) of North America, linked to South America at Colombia. It separates the Caribbean from the Pacific. , where ``their'' rain forest is located, Knight said. The participatory nature of the fund-raiser helps students make a connection with the issue. ``It's hard for some younger children to visualize,'' Knight said. In Belize, the major threat to the rain forest comes from chicken farmers, who buy the land, cut the trees and sell the wood before setting up their operation, Ross said. The land purchased with Oak Park's money serves as a bridge to protect nature preserves, Ross said. The area is home to ocelots, jaguars, toucans, tapirs and more than 200 species of butterflies and more than 300 species of birds. |
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