Lebanon little girl gets box
Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps
story January 4, 2008 12:33AM

Homemade Cookies for Darfur

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Photo: Caitlin Carlson/Mercy Corps

On a cold winter day in Portland, Oregon, a group of freshmen from a local area high school braved the weather for a fourth straight Saturday afternoon to raise money for the people of Darfur.

Claire and eight of her friends, after learning of the dire conditions in the region decided to take action to help people in need half a world away. The girls set out to raise $200 before the Christmas holiday for Mercy Corps' Darfur programs by selling homemade chocolate chip cookies outside of a local supermarket. After the first two weekends they happily raised their goal to $300, which they reached and exceeded on their fourth weekend.

Most of the girls had not heard of the violence in Darfur before their friend Claire told them about it — they all were immediately spurred to do something about it. The girls know their actions will help those in need through the money they raised for Mercy Corps, but they also hope that getting their community involved will have left a lasting impression so that their friends and neighbors don't forget the people of Darfur.

Watch the video, linked above, to learn about the girls' fundraising efforts for Darfur in their own words.

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