Healing Classrooms Challenge
2015 - 2016
Teams from around the world made over 200,000 paper pinwheels! The Bezos Family Foundation matched each pinwheel with $2 for a total donation of $400,000 to support the International Rescue Committee’s Healing Classrooms program serving Syrian refugees.
Your pinwheels generated $400,000 for Syrian refugees.
Teams from around the world made over 200,000 paper pinwheels! The Bezos Family Foundation matched each pinwheel with $2 for a total donation of $400,000 to support the International Rescue Committee’s Healing Classrooms programs in Iraq and Lebanon.
Why the Healing Classrooms Challenge?
Motivation
When Syrian young people needed help, students showed up.
Since the civil war began in 2011, more than 5.6 million Syrians have fled the country as refugees, and another 6.2 million people are displaced within Syria. Half of the people affected are children. Millions of Syrian young people have found themselves without homes, many without access to education, and living in neighboring countries without knowing when, or if, they’ll return home.
Pinwheels of Hope
Students from 27 countries took up the challenge to help their Syrian peers. First, they learned about the Syrian refugee crisis. Webinars provided them an opportunity to hear directly from young people affected by the war in Syria.
Students also made pinwheels to raise funding to support Syrian peers. For each pinwheel made, the Bezos Family Foundation donated $2 to the International Rescue Committee’s Healing Classrooms program in Iraq and Lebanon.
Training teachers, healing children.
The money generated from each and every pinwheel helped provide secure, nurturing learning environments for displaced Syrian children to recover, grow, develop and learn. It also helped equip teachers with tools to support children from conflict areas and help.
How to Participate
The ProcessLearn
Explore resources like lesson plans, art guides, and videos that help students explore who they are – their traits, experiences, and stories – and reflect on the shared humanity between individuals, cultures, and communities.
Create
Encourage students to express their vision for a more united world through their choice of literary, media, performing and visual arts, or STEM.
Share
Submit students’ creative works to Students Rebuild. Each submission or student engaged raises $5 to support organizations worldwide that foster connection and champion collaborative change, up to $1 million.
Get Started
New to Students Rebuild?
Quick Start GuideCheck out our Quick Start Guide, which walks you through how to participate step by step and lists all the resources available to you.
What's in it for you?
Aside from raising money through your creative works, every team or participant who submits artwork receives a downloadable Certificate of Participation. You can also request a detailed letter for service learning hours by emailing [email protected].
Mark your calendar!
All creative work must be submitted by May 31, 2016 11:59pm PDT. Ready to make a difference through creativity? Sign up or sign in today!
Healing Classrooms Challenge Progress
$400,000
raised of $400,000 goal
We’ve reached our donation goal!
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creative expressions
Every creative work generated raises awareness of the importance of empowering youth and building bridges! Submit now!
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youth engaged
Choose a Medium
Creativity has the power to change the world, and it’s something that all of us can do. Explore the 5 mediums you can use for your Students Rebuild project.
Literary Arts
Short stories, essays, and poetry.
Performing Arts
Dance, theater, and music.
Media Arts
PSAs, films, and videos.
Visual Arts
Graphic design, drawings, paintings, photography, and memes.
STEM
Robotics, digital design, and games.
See what students are creating around the world
Use this map to find other teams participating in the project — the pins show where teams created their works of creative expression. Click the icons to learn how the programs you helped fund are making a difference.
The programs your art helps fund
For each Students Rebuild annual Project, we partner with high-impact organizations working on the ground to help strengthen communities worldwide—many of them household names. The funds we donate transform student work into immediate, on-the-ground progress for carefully vetted programs that are evaluated according to the outcomes they produce. In addition to extending our reach and helping our funding make more of a difference, our partners also inform the resources we provide to teachers and students.