High school club sponsors Ecuador water well project

SANDPOINT — It’s not about the individual. That’s the mantra of the Sandpoint High School Interact Club, a group of service-oriented students working to help fund construction of a water well in a developing country in another hemisphere.

And they're making it happen with, among other things, Krispy Kreme donuts.

Through their local efforts to raise money in the Idaho Panhandle, the club will eventually help a village of people they may never meet, in a remote and relatively primitive village some 5,000 miles away.

“I think it’s important for teenagers in our high school to get involved with things that are based outside of our lives,” Interact Club President and third year member Kristina Atteberry said. “I think it’s important to get involved with people who don’t have the ability to do things for themselves.”

Getting involved is the foundation of the club. Chartered by and advised by local Rotary clubs in Sandpoint and Ponderay, Interact is all about the Rotarian motto, “service above self.”

To that end, each year the club is expected to participate in at least one local and one international project. This year, through a partnership with area Rotary clubs and Rotary International, Interact decided to support construction of a water well for the 400 residents of the coastal village of La Palmar, Ecuador.

The village currently gets its water from a surface stream, according to Rotarian and frequent Ecuador visitor Dean Cummings of Oldtown. Cummings has been to the village and is helping spearhead the project there. Interact's well is one of five such wells planned for as many villages in the area, made possible after a coastal highway was completed by the Ecuadorian government, making access and infrastructure improvements possible.

Fundraising for the project is a bottom-up effort. It works like this: the Interact Club set a goal to raise $1,000 for the well. They then challenged local Rotarians to match that goal. The Sandpoint and Ponderay clubs accepted, and not only matched the challenge, but raised $3,000. They in turn challenged other area clubs to match Interacts project as well, and three of those clubs contributed $5,000. Each.

All that money will soon be sent to Rotary International, who is responsible for vetting the project to ensure it meets Rotary's six requirements for a Rotary-sponsored project. They also distribute the funds. The Ecuadorian government is a financial contributor as well, according to Sandpoint Rotarian Jerri Anderson.

Part of the Interact Club’s responsibilities is to manage the money they collect. Club members decide how and when to use it, according to advisor and Rotary member Pierce Smith, who has been involved with club from its inception.

Interact’s fundraising effort hasn’t been without a few hoops to jump through, however. One was the Smart Snack Law, a federally mandated nutrition program that limits the amount of junk food that can be served in publicly funded schools. The club had lobby for one of a limited number of waivers to sell their Krispy Kreme donuts — 70 dozen of them — in the SHS foyer for an upcoming fundraiser.

They did it last year too, with some success: the sweet treats sold out before the end of lunch, according to Atteberry.

Students join Interact for a variety of reasons. Gabriel Burns, a 14-year-old sophomore and director in the club, is a new member this year.

"I'd heard they did a lot of good work on international projects," Burns said. "It's not just helping our local community, but people all over the world."

Burns grew up hearing stories of other countries told by her mother, who served in the Peace Corps. Those stories had an early influence on Burns’ interests and direction.

"I like to get an international view, outside of Sandpoint, of the rest of the world," she said. "I joined this club because I wanted to have that view."

Atteberry offered similar international influences as her reason for participating in the club. In her case, it was a friendship with a foreign exchange student her sophomore year. Her efforts to become an exchange student herself “didn’t work out,” so she joined Interact instead, and became very involved.

“It became something personal to me,” she said. “I like the idea of being able to do something for your community, and also for the world, because we’ve become an interconnected community and world now.”

The club has influenced her decision to become a history teacher.

“I actually want to come back to Sandpoint and teach here. That’s my big goal.”

Atteberry said wants her Interact experience to continue into college.

“I’d like to be involved in a lot of programs in college,” she said. “To help out and do a lot more community service. I think it’s good to help out.”