Laborious Iciducamur, this means we are judged by are deeds. This is my school’s motto. My name is Henry Brooks.  I attend Fairfield Country Day School in Fairfield, CT. I am currently 14 and in the 8th grade. Recently, my school hosted a clothing and shoe drive for our charity, the Wonderland BookSavers.

Many of my fellow students and families generously donated their gently used items.

After several weeks, we received ten enormous bags full of clothing and five large bags of shoes.

We will be adding these items to a collection we are making with Wetherbee School in Lawrence, MA. We are also partnering with 50 other schools in NYC. 

Collectively, we will fill two enormous shipping containers with clothing, school supplies, cooking supplies and household goods where they will be loaded on to a boat headed for Bangladesh. Eventually, these supplies will reach the Rohingya refugees residing in Bangladesh.  

Bangladesh is a country in South Asia that is located between India and Myanmar. It is the world’s eighth most populous country. Recently, violence in Myanmar has escalated and as a result, the number of refugees in Bangladesh has increased rapidly. Since August 25th, 2017, more than 700,000 refugees fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Including the refugees that had come in years prior, there are now more than 1.1 million Rohingya refugees in the country. Overcrowding is now a huge problem in the Rohingya refugee camps. The refugees a lack of access to services, clean water, proper sanitation, education, and food.

We hope that the generous donations from my school can provide some relief to these refugees. Wonderland BookSavers is grateful for having  supportive community partners, such as Fairfield Country Day School.